Lawmakers in Kansas are considering a strongly worded resolution condemning a controversial United Nations “sustainability” scheme known as Agenda 21, saying the global plan is a “dangerous” attack on private property rights, individual liberty, and national sovereignty. The measure comes amid a growing battle against the global “sustainable development” agenda by state legislatures, local governments and activists all across America.
The Kansas resolution “opposing and exposing the radical nature of United Nations Agenda 21,” known as HR 6032, was introduced earlier this month by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee. Its language echoes similar resolutions adopted recently by the state of Tennessee, the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Kansas Republican Party Central Committee, and an assortment of local governments.
Pressure to roll back the controversial UN schemes in Kansas has been building for months. In March, for example, the group Americans for Prosperity hosted a series of presentations around the state by Agenda 21 expert and American Policy Center chief Tom DeWeese. Activists immediately sprang into action, and the Kansas GOP unanimously adopted a party resolution slamming the UN program earlier this year.
“We must develop a comprehensive plan to roll back all of the laws and regulations which have been implemented by Agenda 21,” said Kansas grassroots director for Americans for Prosperity Jim Mullins. A broad array of Tea Party groups and liberty-minded organizations agreed, putting strong pressure on their representatives to take action in defense of the state and its people.
Lawmakers heard the calls. This week, a Kansas House Committee held hearings on the state resolution to discuss the UN agenda and the range of threats it represents to citizens and freedom. “This is the most aggressive attack on individual liberty and the foundations of our country we have ever seen, and it’s growing,” explained Republican state Rep. Dennis Hedke (above, left), an independent geophysicist who firmly believes in protecting the environment – just without UN interference.
Agenda 21, meanwhile, has little to do with protecting the environment anyway, according to critics. Instead, it has a range of goals that are completely at odds with American traditions of individual freedom and self-governance. “This United Nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so-called ‘sustainable development’ views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership, individual travel choices and privately owned farms as destructive to the environment,” the resolution observes.
And so, the state measure currently being considered would aim to expose the “dangerous and insidious nature” of the scheme to public policy makers. If approved, the legislature would endorse rejection of the “radical policies” and “destructive strategies” while sending a copy of the bill to Kansas’ congressional delegation.
“The United Nations Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of environmental extremism, social engineering and global political control,” the resolution states. And despite never having been ratified by the U.S. Senate, it points out, the controversial scheme is being “covertly pushed into local communities” throughout America by groups like UN-backed non-profit ICLEI (formerly known as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives).
Using deceptive terms like “Smart Growth” and “Green” to implement the “sustainable development” policies, the Germany-based organization has “infiltrated” some 600 local and regional entities within America, the resolution explains. However, as many as 54 ICLEI members withdrew during the last year “due to the negative consequences experienced through implementation of Agenda 21,” it added. And analysts expect that trend to accelerate this year as awareness continues to grow.
Citing official UN documents, the resolution also notes that the global scheme would essentially require abandoning the foundations that America was built upon. “According to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment, which would be accomplished by redistribution of wealth,” it explains.
The state of Tennessee recently passed a similar measure explaining that those goals would have to be accomplished using socialist or communist means. And in Arizona, lawmakers are considering what may be the boldest initiative tackling the threat thus far: legislation that would actually prohibit the implementation or adoption of any Agenda 21 policies or principles within the state. The bill has already been approved by the state Senate and is currently moving closer to becoming law.
During the committee hearing in Kansas, several other lawmakers also spoke out forcefully in favor of the state resolution. Rep. Greg Smith (above, middle), for example, cited the highly controversial writings of Agenda 21 architect Maurice Strong and UN leader Kurt Waldheim, a former National Socialist (Nazi) during World War II. Both of them, Smith noted, believed that only strict global regulations and wealth redistribution could help “save” the environment.
“We’re looking at a total global government… No private property rights for anybody,” Smith, a Republican, noted during the May 7 hearing. “It questions the sovereignty of the United States. It questions the sovereignty of Kansas.” In reality, Agenda 21 does more than simply question national sovereignty – official UN documents claim sovereignty, like private land ownership, actually contributes to “social injustice.”
Another GOP lawmaker, Rep. Forrest Knox (above, right), commenting on the UN’s blatant anti-property rights agenda, asked whether anybody at the hearing could think of any place in the world where communism had been a success story. Nobody responded, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported in an article about the hearing.
However, one Democrat said she could at least support Agenda 21’s call for reducing “wasteful packaging,” citing her irritation with opening products. “I’m tired of opening a package and having to go through four layers,” she was quoted as saying. Other lawmakers responded by pointing out that the UN has no authority to dictate anything at all – either in the state of Kansas or in America.
Testifying against the measure was a lobbyist representing Rabbi Moti Rieber, the director of an environmental organization known as Kansas Interfaith Power & Light. The pro-Agenda 21 lobbyist denied being “particularly” supportive of the global scheme but criticized opposition to worldwide “sustainability” initiatives as the work of “right-wing activists,” citing dubious UN theories about carbon emissions and climate as reasons to oppose the state resolution. He also said Agenda 21 was not a threat because it was not mandatory.
Republican state Rep. Mike Kiegerl disagreed, responding to the testimony by asking the lobbyist to tell the Rabbi that he was uninformed about the issue. “Tell him to stick to religion,” Kriegerl, also a member of the committee, was quoted as saying in news reports.
As in other states working to fight back against the UN schemes, the establishment press is working overtime to lobby against lawmakers who are seeking to protect citizens from the global agenda. The McClatchy-owned newspaper Wichita Eagle, for example, has published at least two pro-Agenda 21 propaganda pieces since activists forced the topic into the public consciousness.
Meanwhile, the UN is preparing to double-down on its controversial agenda this June at a sustainability conference in Rio de Janeiro. Held two decades after the “Earth Summit” ushered in Agenda 21, official UN documents show that the upcoming Rio+20 summit will seek to dramatically re-shape every aspect of human civilization — everything from education and welfare to the economy and even people’s individual thoughts will be in the global body’s crosshairs.
But as the UN and its supporters aim to solidify the foundation for the planetary “green economy” regime, activists from across the political spectrum are fighting back with unprecedented success. Kansas, of course, is just the latest focal point in the battle – more and more states are rejecting the scheme, and the trend is rapidly picking up steam.
If the Kansas resolution passes in the state House, it will be taken up by the Senate before becoming official. A similar resolution slamming the “socialist” UN Agenda 21 was approved in Tennessee late last month.
Related articles:
Tennessee Passes Resolution Slamming “Socialist” UN Agenda 21
UN Seeks New Powers to Remake World at Rio Sustainability Summit
UN Report for Rio+20 Outlines Top-down “Green” World Order
UN Bosses Secretly Plot Global Govt Through “Green Economy” for Rio+20
Arizona Bill Would Ban UN Agenda 21 Within State
What are the UN’s Agenda 21 and ICLEI?
Photo above: (Left to right) Kansas Reps. Dennis Hedke, Greg Smith, and Forrest Knox
