New Cartoons at GOPUSA!

New Cartoons at GOPUSA!!

Get a daily dose of political wit at GOPUSA. Check out our new cartoon line-up featuring some of the best cartoonists in the country!


E-mail this story to a friend
Have comments? Send them to the editor.
Printer Friendly Version
Subscribe for Free!
Sustainable Development: Foe Of Freedom
By Henry Lamb
May 12, 2008

Add the word "sustainable" to almost any project, and immediately, the project becomes politically correct and therefore, acceptable. The surge of "sustainability" or "sustainable development" in recent years is phenomenal. Americans have been awed by the sales pitch and have bought into the idea of "sustainable development" - without looking under the hood to examine the engine. Nor have Americans realized that "sustainable development" is a self-directing vehicle that is transforming a once-free society into sustainable communities where nearly every human activity requires the permission of government.

The principle of private property rights is an early victim. Private property rights cannot exist in a sustainable community. In a sustainable community, a property owner's rights are limited to whatever government decides is appropriate.

Freedom rests upon the principle of private property ownership. Ownership of property is the right to use the property, and to exclude others from it. When the right to use one's property is restricted or diminished by government, so then is the owner's freedom diminished.

The concept of private property is incompatible with the concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development is, by definition, a function of government that uses the force of law to balance resource use (the environment), with economic development, to achieve social equity.

Nowhere does the U.S. Constitution require government to balance resource use, or economic development to achieve social equity. This idea arises from a socialist philosophy that dominates the United Nations which spawned the concept of sustainable development. As early as 1976, the U.S. government signed a U.N. document that declared:

"Land...cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice;"

"A-1. Redistribute population in accord with available resources;"

"D-1. Government must control the use of land to achieve equitable distribution of resources;"

"D-2. Control land use through zoning and land-use planning;"

"D-3. Excessive profits from land use must be recaptured by government;"

"D-4. Public ownership of land should be used to exercise urban and rural land reform;"

"D-5. Owner rights should be separated from development rights, which should be held by a public authority."

This document was signed on behalf of the U.S. by Carla A. Hills, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and William K. Reilly, then head of the Conservation Fund, who later became the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

These land use control ideas found their way into the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, which first defined the term "Sustainable Development." The meaning of sustainable development here defined, was codified in another U.N. document called Agenda 21, which was signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. This document recommended that every nation create a national sustainable development initiative.

>> Continued -- Page 1 2



advertisement


McCain eyes longer gas tax reprieve to aid drivers
Obama calls criticism of wife 'infuriating'
House Speaker Pelosi calls Bush 'a total failure'
Fannie, Freddie spent millions on lobbying
Judge clears way for first Guantanamo Bay trial
Go to News Central


The Real Party Of Special Interests
The Way To Box In Barack On Iraq
Obama -- Rare Energy Honesty
Hero's Welcome
Ayatollah Talk
Read More Commentary


Sunday in the Precinct! by Im4atbrka
PBS: Not Livin' Large in Ohio, Folks Can't Even Afford Meat? by rangerrebew
It’s come to this: ABC accuses McCain of using subliminal messages in Obama ad by rangerrebew
State troopers rebuke students by Luckyme
Discuss Issues in the Forum


Appeals Court Upholds Arresting Illegal Immigrants Using Human Smuggling Statute
A Gentleman and Conservative Warrior
Follow-up: Public Opinion Differs from Obama's 'Learn Spanish' Attitude
Visit The Loft

Legislative Action Center
Tell Congress to put America First. Drill for Oil Now!
Support the Contract with Conservatives
Protect America's Border! -- Support the SAVE Act!

Grassroots Survey Team
View recent survey results
Join the survey team!

Latest Online Poll
Do you support expanded drilling of oil in the U.S. to help combat the high price of gasoline?
View poll archives

Check out these resources at GOPUSA!

There is even more information in GOPUSA's Resources section.

Seen a good resource?
Let us know!

NewsMax: Rumsfeld Mum on Support of McCain

The Chavez Democrats

NASA Wary of Relying on Russia

Do House Democrats Take Terrorism Seriously?

Boeing's Audacious Allies


"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."
-- Barack Obama
Get our RSS news feedSign up for e-mail updates
Read us on your wireless deviceAdd us to your web site
Download us to your PDASend letter to the editor
E-mail this pageContact us

   
Web     GOPUSA Web Site

   

Get your daily dose of wit at GOPUSA's Cartoon Central.

Place your ad for FREE and get noticed at GOPUSA!!.

 

Conservative Classifieds

Declaration of Independence

United States Constitution

Federalist Papers

Presidential Inaugural Addresses

Searching For The Gipper

Scrolling Text provided by JPowered,com