Advance the Cause of Freedom

Sustainable

Development, the

Constitution, and

what you can do

By Michael Shaw

Synopsis

Achieving Abundance Ecology requires a direct relationship between man

and the land, Abundance Ecologist Michael Shaw said in a presentation to

the Trans-Heritage Association annual meeting and conference in Alpine

Texas in May 2003. Shaw speaks from experience. Shaw has received acclaim

for creating an ecological oasis from a blighted 75-acre parcel on the central

coast of California – what he calls “Liberty Garden.”

“To release the potential productivity and diversity of a landscape, an owner

must be free to engage in rigorous disturbance, and free to pursue a reasoned

and creative process of trial and error. This process would be suited to the

choice of each individual and the uniqueness of each property,” Shaw said.

The attached article includes key excerpts from Shaw’s presentation to the

Trans-Texas Heritage Association.

Contents

Synopsis......................................................................................................................... i

Land Use ........................................................................................................................1

Abundance Ecology ..........................................................................................................1

Shortage Ecology...............................................................................................................1

Political Theory..............................................................................................................2

Unalienable Rights..............................................................................................................2

Granted Rights ...................................................................................................................2

Social Justice ......................................................................................................................3

The Nature of Sustainable Development ...............................................................3

U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda 21 ........................................................................3

Sustainable Development is Non-Partisan .........................................................................4

Funding Agenda 21 ............................................................................................................4

The Wildlands Project.........................................................................................................4

Smart Growth......................................................................................................................5

Stakeholder Consensus Councils..........................................................................................5

The Three E’s of Tyranny..............................................................................................5

Equity ..................................................................................................................................5

Economy...............................................................................................................................5

Environment ........................................................................................................................6

Conditions for Collectivism ..................................................................................................6

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................6

Action Steps for Advancing Freedom in the 21st Century......................................8

©2003 Freedom 21 Santa Cruz. All rights reserved. To obtain permission to quote or

distribute this article, please contact Freedom 21 Santa Cruz at:

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liberty@freedom21santacruz.net

.

Sustainable Development, the Constitution,

and what you can do

By Michael Shaw

Land Use

Abundance Ecology

Achieving Abundance Ecology requires a direct relationship between man and

the land, Abundance Ecologist Michael Shaw said in a presentation to the Trans-

Heritage Association annual meeting and conference in Alpine Texas in May 2003.

Shaw speaks from experience. Shaw has received acclaim for creating an ecological

oasis from a blighted 75-acre parcel on the central coast of California – what he calls

Liberty Garden.”

“To release the potential productivity and diversity of a landscape, an owner

must be free to engage in rigorous disturbance, and free to pursue a reasoned and

creative process of trial and error. This process would be suited to the choice of each

individual and the uniqueness of each property,” Shaw said. The attached article

includes key excerpts from Shaw’s presentation to the Trans-Texas Heritage

Association.

Shortage Ecology

“Sustainable Development” is the current buzz term that represents the effort to

collectivize property in America by controlling and limiting human action.

Sustainable Development is a synonym for “shortage ecology” and is embodied in

the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which is the foundation of the land use element

of Sustainable Development.

ESA is predicated on international treaties and is rooted in the Precautionary

Principle, which abandons the legal standard that presumes innocence. Since ESA

puts the government in control of plants, the ideals of private property are

destroyed, natural resource shortages arise, and natural calamities—such as

devastating forest fires—increase.

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Political Theory

George Washington was right when he said: “Private property and freedom are

inseparable.”

Private property, after all, begins with our physical person, extends to our

thoughts, proceeds as our expression, becomes our action, and results in something

we create or obtain. If an agent of force denies an individual the use of possessions,

including land, that individual is contemporaneously denied the liberty necessary to

advance his or her own life. When the use of one’s property and one’s liberty have

been squelched by big government, the dignity of human life itself has been

trampled.

Political theory probes the question, “Who decides…?” To answer this question,

it is helpful to examine the philosophy underlying the treatment of property.

Immediately, a contrast is seen between the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the

United States of America and the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration

of Human Rights.

Unalienable Rights

Under the American Constitutional system, individuals decide and direct the

terms of their lives. The application of political theory that respects the dignity of

each individual is premised on the idea that man’s rights are unalienable, and that

justice must be dispensed equally. The political theory of Liberty presupposes that an

individual’s rights are inherent to, our imbued within, the individual’s nature; from

this, it follows that the individual has a natural right to his or her life, liberty, and

property.

Granted Rights

The political theory behind contemporary political globalism answers the

question quite differently. Under the Declaration of Human Rights, the permission

to have and use property is obtained by way of government grant. This is because

people grant “human rights” and, as such, people can take them away.

This idea can be illustrated using the so-called Fishnet 4C ordinance that has

been adopted by central California coastal counties. Under this ordinance, much of

the coastal mountain ranges are dedicated as “fish land.” This land, by decree of

ecology planners, is to be set aside to meet the interests of fish. It extends the “fish

land” zone from the streamline halfway to the ridge-top. The ordinance states

“Inappropriate development [within the zone] shall be decommissioned.”

The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights states: “Property shall not be arbitrarily

taken.” However, since a central authority has already decided that human relocation

is not “arbitrary” under this set of circumstances, then no violation of the

Declaration can be claimed. After all, the story goes, protection of fish is necessary

to “restore” the intrinsic glory of Mother Nature! By contrast, the standards of the

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American Constitution strictly limit government taking of property, requiring both a

public use and just compensation.

Social Justice

A system of human rights operates in concert with the pursuit of “social justice,”

which might be defined as a law formulated to obtain government’s social objectives

at the expense of individual liberty. The California Fishnet 4C ordinance exemplifies

the application of social justice.

The Nature of Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development has three components: global land use, global

education, and global population control. The international focus for Sustainable

Development’s implementation is the United States. This is because America is the

only country in the world where the ideal of Private Property is constitutionally

recognized. Private Property, as codified by the USA, is incompatible with the

collectivist premise of Sustainable Development.

U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda 21

The U.N. website verifies that the United Nations Agenda 21 action plan is

Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development works to eliminate private

property by manufacturing natural resource shortages to facilitate control of

resources to government. Government-corporate partnerships (also called Public-

Private Partnerships) are the major tool used to accomplish this objective.

What makes the United States of America unique is that we are the only country

in the history of the world where management of the natural resources is under

citizen control. Everything that city residents obtain comes from rural lands and

natural resources. If Government-corporate partnerships complete their assumption

of control over natural resources, urban citizens are doomed.

Canadian oil billionaire Maurice Strong, Secretary General at the Rio de Janeiro

United Nations 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, expressed the

goal of Sustainable Development by declaring a partial list of what is not sustainable:

“...current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middleclass

[i.e. Americans]—involving high meat intake [i.e. cattle

production], use of fossil fuels [i.e. air and auto travel, industrial and

consumer products], appliances [i.e. refrigeration] home and work

air-conditioning and suburban housing are not sustainable.”

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Sustainable Development is Non-Partisan

The implementation of Sustainable Development is not a dynamic of Republican

vs. Democrat, liberal vs. conservative, or left vs. right. Rather, it is completely nonpartisan.

The looming battle of ideas should be recognized as the classic—and

perhaps ultimate—battle between Liberty and Tyranny.

When George H.W. Bush signed the Rio Accords at the Earth Summit in Rio de

Janeiro in 1992, he obligated (without constitutional authority) federal agencies to

implement U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda 21 within the United States.

When Bill Clinton created the President’s Council for Sustainable Development by

Executive Order in 1993, he laid the foundation for a proliferation of intermediate

and local councils that would set out to alter radically the structure of government in

the United States.

Funding Agenda 21

The list of money sources paying for the implementation of U.N. Sustainable

Development Agenda 21 is impressive. American taxes fund the federal agencies’

present focus: implementing Sustainable Development. Over two thousand Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are accredited by the United Nations for the

purpose of implementing Sustainable Development in America and are given

massive tax advantages by the IRS code. Some of these NGOs are the Nature

Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society, the American Planning

Association, and the National Teachers Association. The third leg of the Sustainable

Development money power elite are certain aristocratic tax-advantaged foundations.

These include the Rockefeller Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Turner

Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation,

the Carnegie Foundation, the McArthur Foundation, and numerous local community

foundations.

The Wildlands Project

Sustainable Development addresses land use through two action plans. The first

is the Wildlands Project. The Wildlands Project is the plan to eliminate human

presence on over 50 percent of the American landscape and to heavily control

human activity on most of the rest of American land. Examples of the piece-by-piece

implementation of the Wildlands Project include road closings, the dam-busting

policies of the Clinton administration, and the adoption of United Nations World

Heritage Sites—which are systematically being closed to recreational use. The most

significant tools of the Wildlands Project are the rapidly expanding impositions of

habitat “protection” provisions in the Endangered Species Act, various

conservation easements,” and direct land acquisitions from battered “willing

sellers.”

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Smart Growth

The second action plan is called Smart Growth. Smart Growth will increasingly

herd Americans into regimented and dense urban communities. Smart Growth is

Sustainable Development’s ultimate solution, as it will create dense human

settlements subject to increasing controls on how residents live and increased

restriction on mobility. In the words of one smart growth activist: “It will be the

humans in cages with the animals looking in.”

Stakeholder Consensus Councils

Agenda 21 is being implemented through the use of facilitated stakeholder

consensus councils, not by vote. These councils fit almost perfectly the definition of

a Soviet: a system of councils that report to an apex council and that implement a

predetermined outcome. Members of a Soviet council are chosen by virtue of their

willingness to comply with that outcome and their one-mindedness with the group.

Soviets are the operating mechanism of a government-controlled economy, whether

it be socialism or government-corporate partnerships.

The Three E’s of Tyranny

The symbol of Sustainable Development most frequently found in the literature

of its proponents is a diagram of three connecting circles, representing three E’s. The

three E’s are: “equity,” “economy” (through global and local government-corporate

partnerships) and “environment” (nature before man).

Equity

Sustainable Development seeks the restructure of human nature. Like

communism, it relies on a system of social justice that requires force to suppress

individual freedoms and private property in order to pursue a common good.

Economy

Like Italian fascism, it relies on businesses that want the protection afforded by

government’s legalized force and governments that want the power of business

(government-corporate partnerships), effecting the international redistribution of

financial resources.

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Environment

Sustainable Development is not about saving nature. It is about a revolutionary

coup in America. It is about establishing a global democratic collective. It is

concerned with destroying its antithetical ideal—individual liberty, equal justice, and

limited government.

Link by link, Sustainable Development seeks to complete the destruction of the

governing authority of the United States Constitution and to turn our sovereign

nation—indeed, any sovereign nation—into a globally governed “homeland” where

human beings are treated as biological resources subject to temporal “human rights.”

Conditions for Collectivism

A 21st century global collective requires the satisfaction of four conditions, as

follows:

􀂃 A global collective requires an imperialistic military power capable of

squashing all others. If America abandons its commitment to an individual’s

unalienable right to life, liberty, and property, collective governance will

assume control of America’s might and global governance will be in the

waiting.

􀂃 Government must control the monetary system. This was achieved in

America in 1913 when the Federal Reserve was established. The Federal

Reserve is the granddaddy of Public-Private Partnerships.

􀂃 Government control of the educational system is necessary. If understanding

the attack on private property makes you ill, wait until you hear how the

federal government is partnering with states to indoctrinate our children with

global-collectivist values, attitudes and beliefs. Facts and knowledge are no

longer the basis for education.

􀂃 A collective must have control of rural lands and natural resources. This is

why the ranchers in Alpine Texas and the farmers in the Pajaro Valley on the

central coast of California are so important to the preservation of freedom in

America.

Conclusion

The Foundation Principles of the United States of America are facing a great

threat. Posterity will long live with the consequences of the battle over Sustainable

Development and the anti-human ideas it represents.

Sustainable Development activists and supporters are often—but not always—

unaware that tyranny is the natural consequence of their environmental, social equity,

and “third way” economic movement. Yet, these dire circumstances also propel the

greatest opportunity in history to advance individual liberty, human happiness and

genuine peace.

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As the Sustainable Development initiative gains approval, it is wise to recall what

George Washington said: “Private property and freedom are inseparable.” Freedom

and a healthy planet are also inseparable.

If Americans come to a timely understanding of the threat and face the challenge

squarely, the deceptive fraud of Sustainable Development will quickly come to light.

America will rise to restore Liberty through an orderly transformation directed by

reason and respect for the dignity of individual determination.

We are charged with protecting the ideals of Liberty and Private Property. As the

implications of Sustainable Development become clear, America’s parents and

grandparents will increasingly come to understand the consequences of eliminating

private property. The circle sounding Paul Revere’s warning is growing. Join in now,

because the green coats are a-comin’! Protect your property, your children, and the

American experiment.

Draw upon the American heritage of industriousness, the hope that springs from

western civilization’s culture and the human spirit to expose Sustainable

Development and Advance Freedom in the twenty-first century.

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Action Steps for Advancing Freedom in the 21st Century

Each of us must choose between two paths. The road to liberty requires a conscious

decision to defend our neighbor’s rights if we are to be secure in having a life of our

own. The road to a collective tyranny is traveled on the back of apathy.

What can you do to protect and advance individual liberty and equal justice?

How can individuals defend against the march of a global tyranny cloaked in the

warm and fuzzy term Sustainable Development? How can we advance the cause of

freedom in the 21st century?

Here is a place to start:

􀂃 Know the Constitution. Become reacquainted with the principles of our

democratic republic. Commit to securing the blessings of liberty to our

posterity and to us.

􀂃 Respect the dignity of human life. Respect the rights of others to the use

and enjoyment of their property–even if such activity does not advance your

personal interests.

􀂃 Understand and work to eliminate harmful indoctrination programs in

the current government education system. Understand your educational

alternatives.

􀂃 Advance freedom locally:

􀂃 Hold elected representatives directly accountable to the American

Constitutional system of government that is currently being undermined

by a consensus process with predetermined outcomes.

􀂃 Participate by investigating, researching, writing, and speaking out.

􀂃 Support freedom advocacy groups and spread the spirit of liberty.

􀂃 Support the repeal of the Endangered Species Act. (The present ESA is

the primary tool used to eliminate citizen ownership and management of

America’s rural lands and natural resources.)

􀂃 Stop contributing to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are

working to undermine the Constitution or who are promoting a global

political agenda that is contrary to the ideas of liberty.

􀂃 Spread the word to your friends, family and associates about the existence

and nature of Sustainable Development policies and programs that threaten

private property and individual freedom.

When we prevail, America and the rest of the world will begin to achieve the

potential that lies within each human being. Now is the time for all good people to

come to the aid of liberty.

Long live freedom!