Posted on 09/09/2002 10:46:18 PM PDT by hammerdown
A Distant Sound
September 8, 2002
By Jim Beers
jimbeers@juno.com
The UN Conference on Sustainable Development has adjourned.
Those of us who are concerned about the campaigns by environmental and animal
rights organizations to change our society are blissfully unaware of what
went on there and how it supports and points the way for the continuing
elimination of citizen rights in the United States of America.
Who needs to know what went on in Johannesburg?
Pet owners, loggers, farmers, ranchers, hunters, trappers, fishermen,
furriers, meat eaters, circus goers, rodeo attendees, and users of public
lands are but a few of those who must know what transpired in the meetings,
hallways, and receptions in that distant land.
While certain groups like the Americans for Medical Progress or Safari
Club are probably sharp enough to send representatives, their reports
will be necessarily narrow.
Threats to the use of animals in medical testing, international movement of
trophies, or game management would be noted and shared with members in
gatherings and publications.
These groups will then try to oppose or modify specific wording or certain
agreements to protect their interest. Even these narrow responses often
involve compromises that merely slow the inevitable destruction of such
interests.
The best analogy I can think of is the resistance of Poland or the
Philippines to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
When everyone ignores or negotiates about the clear early warnings,
individual groups fall, one at a time.
Only when there is a concerted effort by all those threatened, can a
successful defense of liberty take place.
I often mention the need for current interest groups to represent
sensible environmental management and the sustainable uses of animals in
properly humane ways.
Such representation involves responding to and countering to the constant
stream of regulations, laws, Conventions, ordinances, and government policies
being enacted to reduce and eliminate every conceivable use of animals,
public lands, and natural resources.
Johannesburg points up in spades why we all need to be informed.
What do we know and what don't we know?
We know that Secretary Powell, bless his heart, supports international
agreements and solutions. It is very likely that he has little stake in
animal use, public land management, or the continued use of natural
resources in the face of international and national schemes to
disadvantage the US to advance the relative influence of others.
We know that the US delegation is directed by Assistant Secretary of
State John Turner.
A former Wyoming outfitter under permit from the National Park service and
Notre Dame graduate, he is also a former Director of the US Fish & Wildlife
Service (FWS).
He was the “greenest” candidate mentioned for Secretary of the Interior when
President Bush selected Ms. [Gale] Norton.
As Director, he was a strong supporter of Endangered Species Act expansion,
land acquisition, and expansion of Federal environmental activities to
encompass “ecosystems” and imaginary species needs.
He left his stint with FWS to oversee the spectacular growth of the Nature
Conservancy over the past decade. He has never spoken out about the
elimination of natural resource uses and access on
lands acquired with Federal funds.
To my knowledge, he has never seen a land acquisition proposal or
jurisdiction assumption by the Federal government or the UN that was worth
opposing.
We know that there were lots of “activists” and demonstrations at the
Conference.
Snippets of news reporting mention the “need for more endangered species
protection.”
Governments “need” to do more to reduce natural resource uses such as water
and logging.
Protection, not management -- restrictions, not uses -- were the themes.
The answer is always MORE controls by central governments.
While that is appropriate for most nations from Zimbabwe to Iran, it
represents annihilation of the US system of government with at best a
European model and at worst an Iraqi model.
The guarantees that made the US a beacon of success and freedom
are slated to be replaced by the old narrow dictates that have
historically repressed most of the rest of the world.
Natural resources are treated as a zero sum game similar to income
redistributors who believe there is only a fixed amount of money and if it is
spread around good things happen and those in charge will be obeyed.
What don't we know?
What groups represented at annual Animal Rights Conferences attended?
Which environmental radical groups attended? What were they advocating and
lobbying?
What did proposed resolutions and drafts say about domestic animals? Wild
animals? Wild plants? Pets? Commercial uses of animals? Private property?
Guns?
What was the make-up of the US delegation? What did the US delegation
support? What did the US delegation oppose?
How were press releases and media reporting, compared to the truth?
How would proposals and resulting agreements support future threats to
American freedoms?
What can we expect from government and interest group activists in the
future?
Which US politicians attended and what ideology did they represent and whom
did they support?
Which countries are actively supporting anti-American proposals?
Which countries yearn for American freedoms and want to
evolve into free societies?
There are more things but space is limited.
The UN ALWAYS tends to identify a problem and then pursue solutions that
involve surrendering authority and jurisdiction to the highest possible
authority where uniform restrictions are proscribed and enforced.
The last thirty years in the US has seen similar behavior by the Federal
government.
For instance, the Endangered Species Act's legal justification for taking
private property without compensation and taking the state's
jurisdiction over growing lists of endangered plants and animals is a UN
Convention.
Both the UN and [the] US Federal government are prodded and
enticed to claim and exercise expanding central authority by the SAME
environmental and animal rights radical groups.
Those groups are active at -- and intimately involved in -- UN Conferences
such as Johannesburg.
They were at Kyoto and they attend every UN CITES biennial meeting.
They will all gather in Santiago, Chile this fall, and like the old
observation about the danger to the Republic when Congress is in session, US
freedoms are increasingly endangered by such gatherings of foreign and
domestic opponents of freedom.
All of us need a broad view of what these groups are doing; otherwise we
remain like those individual countries before an organized Axis or Soviet
Union.
Only when we understand the commonality of the threat [that] we face -- and
only when we understand how the animal rights and environmental groups
cooperate to attain their ends -- only then can we succeed in protecting our
freedoms.
If we cannot form new organizations, perhaps we can form alliances that will
gather and report on meetings such as Johannesburg.
The real problem with this is that each group clings to one or two special
needs that they don't want to jeopardize.
Private timber companies want to keep the high prices assured by public land
non-management and non-use.
Pedigree dog breeders want “puppy mills” controlled or abolished.
Some hunters resist helping property owners and many fishermen oppose
trapping.
Urban residents want wolves and bears “out there.”
Hikers and campers want ranchers and loggers restricted.
Vegetarians and a long list of others from those who avoid fast food to those
opposed to smoking want their desires imposed on others; a free society of
citizens with common interests be damned.
Before we can overcome the things that divide us, we must understand what is
going on around us.
Before we can communicate what we need to do, we must understand the threat.
Before we can support the right politician for the right reasons, we must
know what we must have him or her do. Keeping up with things like
Johannesburg, while no silver bullet, is necessary if we ever expect to
prevail in the face of organized efforts to reduce us to what we were freed
from over two hundred years ago.
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