By Bill Kovarik
Occasionally, the Great Question of America’s august place in the global order is best elucidated in a location far, far from the glare of kleig lights and the stares of Washington wonks. We then see the wisdom lurking within statehouse committees and cracker barrel country stores and signs painted on the sides of tobacco barns.
And the message: Get the US out of the United Nations. Look out for blue helmets in black helicopters. Most of all, these days: Beware of Agenda 21.
According to an article Feb. 5 in the Des Moines Register, Iowa state Rep. Ralph Watts thinks that Agenda 21, which is a 20 year old UN proposal for sustainable development, is a lot like pornography.
Even for a rustic boob hibernating in the remote corners of the corn belt, this is pretty well beyond any realm of reason known to general civilization.
“What is Agenda 21? It’s kind of like defining pornography — I know it when I see it, but it’s hard to define,” Watts said.
According to the Register, Watts describes Agenda 21 as “an attempt to strip away individual property rights and to depopulate the countryside by forcing people to live in dense urban areas.” And he says: “They literally want to see people move off of rural areas into communities, kind of like the collectivism the Soviet Union has had for the last half-century.”
He added: “This is not tinfoil hat stuff.”
Oh?
A good rule of thumb is that any time a corn pone pol says it’s like porn, but it’s not time to put on the tinfoil hats, go ahead and reach for the Reynolds wrap.
To begin with, of course, “collectivism” collapsed 75 years ago and the “Soviet Union” has not even existed for the past 22 years. It’s called Russia now.
Here’s another news flash. This thing we call the United Nations has institutions that help us achieve goals “collectively” that we couldn’t attain on our own.
Examples:
- Keeing track of disease through the World Health Organization.
- Keeping track of criminals through Interpol.
- Creating international standards for photos through the Joint Photographic Experts Group. (Ever hear of a JPEG?)
- Creating international standards for movies through the Motion Picture Experts Group. (Ever hear of an MPEG?)
Why should a farmbelt fop fear the fuzz from Frankfurt, or Farafangana, or Faskrudsfjordur, or Fuzhou?
Good question. Asked about actual evidence of the influence of Agenda 21 in Iowa, Watts apparently pointed out that the “Tomorrow Plan” is a regional land use and transportation initiative that includes long term sustainability goals.
Obviously, the “Tomorrow Plan” is more speculative than, say, the “Yesterday Plan” or the “Live for Today Plan.”
But where is the evil, the lurking menace of collectivism and the ghost of Joseph Stalin or Chairman Mao?
Maybe we’d see it better if we put on one of those shiny hats Mr. Watts is wearing.
Origin of Species published 
Smog season 
Environmental Action Archive
Ellen Swallow Richards
The hats that created bird sanctuaries 
Pollution regs saved lives
¶ A giant tree's death sparked the conservation movement in 1853. Terrific article by Leo Hickman of the Guardian on June 27, 2013. The
¶ Dymaxion car 
¶ Aldo Leopold