First, let me thank all of the freedom activists who taking up the fight against Agenda 21.
You are having an incredible impact. And as a result, things are heating up in the battle to enforce Agenda 21.
It appears that many of our recent victories to stop it have prompted Sustainablists to step up and rush new policies into place. Here are just some of the latest details:
First: Plan Maryland
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is forcing what he calls “Plan Maryland” through Executive Action rather than through the state Legislature. That means no votes from representatives of the people.
Plan Maryland will lock away 400,000 acres of Maryland land – blocking any development over the next 20 years. The scheme shifts control of land use from local government to dictates by unelected state bureaucrats.
Worse, O’Malley’s plan will punish any county that doesn’t comply by withholding state funding. It will also triple sewer “flush” taxes on property tax bills — a tax on toilet flushes.
Moreover, he wants to ban most septic tanks – a move that will destroy the ability to live in rural areas.
Agenda 21 is on the move in Maryland.
Second: Charge Property Owners for Rainwater Runoff
Knoxville, TN a plan is being considered to charge a fee to property owners for rainwater runoff – meaning you pay a tax when it rains. This scheme has been enforced in Houston, TX where the city annually scoops up more than $400,000.
The excuse is that rain water runoff from private property pollutes streams. Rain is natural and this is nothing more than another environmental con to grab more of your hard earned money.
They call it a fee rather than a tax in order to snare non-profit entities like schools and churches. Some churches in South Carolina pay an annual rain runoff fee of as much as $2,600.
This too is Agenda 21 on the attack.
Third: Public Private Partnerships Called “Benefit” Corporations
there is a new kind of corporation being developed through Public Private Partnerships –it’s called “benefit” corporations.
As Michael Shaw of Freedom Advocates describes it, imagine a legislated brotherhood of business where favored businesses get to go to the front of the line for permits, licenses and opportunities merely because they agree to advance the principles of Sustainable Development and Agenda 21.
Six states already have Benefit Corporation legislation: Hawaii, Virginia, Maryland, Vermont and New Jersey, and New York.
And more are in the process of making it part of their states corporate legal system, including California, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
This policy will destroy free enterprise and guarantee that we can’t stop Agenda 21.
There has been some good news in recent days in our battle to stop Agenda 21.
We can now add the following communities to the growing list that have ended their contracts with ICLEI (the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives- the main group forcing Agenda 21 in many cities in America).
Clallam County, Washington, Abington, VA, Carver MA, Pinellas County, Florida, Garland, TX, and Sarasota County, Florida. Each of these communities have taken action to stop Agenda 21.
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The American Policy Center is on the front lines, spreading the message of the dangers of Agenda 21. I am on a seemingly non-stop speaking tour, informing citizens and elected officials of the dangers of these policies.
I can only do that with your financial help.
Please go to www.americanpolicy.org and click on donate. Your gift of $20 or more will keep me and APC in this battle against those who seek to control every aspect of your life thought the assault of Agenda 21 and its policy called Sustainable Development. Please donate today – and please send this message to everyone on your email, facebook and other social network lists.
Together we can win this battle to restore America’s Republic.
Tom DeWeese
Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence. Go to americanpolicy.org for more information