'SMART GROWTH' OR DUMBED DOWN BY CONSENSUS POLITICIANS

By Betty Freauf  

April 6, 2002

NewsWithViews.com

 

Voters are under an illusion when they elect someone to the legislature that person will be there to "represent" them using the constitution as a plumb line.

But what voters do not realize is that such groups as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) located in Washington, D.C., and whose founder is Paul Weyrich, hold conferences for the legislators while all the time grooming them to accept model legislation which they send back to the states to certain facilitated legislators to introduce and promote.

And so is the case perhaps of Oregon's 11-member Smart Growth and Commerce Committee with a Republican businessman as chairman. Republicans are perceived as being for less government intrusion into our lives and more fiscally conservative but when there is a "sleeper/facilitator" in the mix with "model bills" from ALEC and other sources, this perception falls apart.

So we have to wonder what is the designated purpose of this 11-member committee? What is their focus? What is their goal? Is there a hidden agenda? After all, Oregon already has tough land-use laws.

"Change Agent" Republican Governor Tom McCall by Executive Order No. 11 in 1968 created United Nations State Administrative Districts dividing our state into sections. He did this a few months before another Republican, President Richard Nixon, divided our country into ten regions. His White House Directive dated March 27, 1969 was the "restructuring of government service systems" by creating ten regions to administer the fifty states. Nothing happens by accident. This plan again was well orchestrated.

President Nixon, like most Republicans, campaigned on its conservative Republican platform but as many former Democrats have learned after switching to the Republican party because of its conservative platform, Republican does not always constitute conservative and like the white wedding dress, the platform often flies under false colors.

In his January 22, 1971 State of the Union Address Nixon told of this "New American Revolution" wherein not only the executive branch in Washington, D.C. but even the Congress would have to change by giving up some of its powers. This meant good bye checks and balance. And this is why U.S. presidents have been sending American troops all over the world  on "peacekeeping" assignments without constitutional Congressional approval leaving us totally vulnerable for an attack by the enemies within and without our borders. 

While President Nixon was too clever to actually join the World Federalists in promoting its One World Government agenda, like so many other elected officials, he had been actively supporting its program since his early days in Congress.

Inasmuch as Oregon already had strict land-use planning laws, this "Smart Growth" plan only means the restrictions are going to become even more intrusive.

The Citizens for Responsible Zoning and Landowners, Inc. from Wisconsin says "Smart Growth" came to Wisconsin through the back door. It was described as one of the most stealth comprehensive pieces of land-use legislation considered in the state during the last 50 years.

Just as Oregon's land-use planning was sold to us in the early 70s, the Wisconsin citizens were told all plans would come from the towns but all plans would have to be approved by a higher agency and local decisions could be over-ruled by unseen, un-elected people.

In order to receive the federal money,  required public meetings were held in Oregon with standing-room-only crowds in opposition. But what the public did not realize was this was yet another well-orchestrated public relations campaign. Much to the surprise of those who had attended these meetings, the spin in the local papers suggested people favored state land management.

Within that same time frame, Republican Governor Tom McCall, a former TV anchor news man, was in Washington, D.C. testifying before the Interior and Insular Affairs committee headed by Laurence Rockefeller, for strong land-use policy mandates. He wanted to be able to blame the "feds" when some unpopular law was passed in his state. We can say "this is what they ordered us to do. It gives us leverage in trying to do something that ought to be done..." These words are so unlike what President Washington said when he warned us NEVER to break our country into regions -- regional government. 

Oregon's statewide planning program was created in 1973 when the legislature passed the Oregon Land Use Act (Senate Bill 100). While numerous attempts were made to get it repealed. the spin in the newspapers and well-placed TV ads paid for with some Rockefeller money prior to the elections were always slanted to make people believe there were some shysters whose sole aim was purely selfish wanting to eliminate all farm land and forests by blacktopping the entire state and building "smoke-stack-chasing-hussy industries," as McCall called them, so the ballot measures lost.

Once that law was passed, an agency was needed to oversee the comprehensive plans so the seven-member Oregon's Land Conservation and Development Commission was created with the Governor appointing the members. Its 2001-03 biennium budget is nearly $17 million with 66 unelected employees dictating policy to elected officials in our towns and counties.

Every entity was expected to have a comprehensive plan in place by a certain date. Never mind that while the big cities could hire "consultants" to help in this planning process, the smaller cities - some unincorporated - were expected to create similar land-use planning.

Of course, when such controls are put in place, disputes arise so then we needed someone to settle them and the legislature created the Land Use Board of Appeals in 1979 and was given exclusive jurisdiction to review all government land-use decisions. It was allegedly created to simplify the appeal process, speed resolutions of land-use disputes and provide consistent interpretation of vaguely written state and local land-use laws. The governor appoints the three-member board to serve four-year terms. Its 2001-03 biennium budget exceeds $1 million.

These unelected decision makers are all selected by the governor, so their decisions will be slanted to his or her philosophy and there is no accountability.

This "Smart Growth" land management scheme like Oregon's land-use planning in the 70s all have roots in several international conferences held under the auspices of the United Nations.

The Citizens for Responsible Zoning in Wisconsin brings up another term which has become so prominent in recent months and that is "Sustainable Development," which was first proposed by the United Nations in 1987. In 1992 they adopted Agenda 21 to explain how Sustainable Development could be related to all human activity. And now we get to the crux of this hoax.

Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the conference explained:

"It is clear current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and convenience foods, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work-place air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable. A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns."

And there you have it. Communism has been replaced by the environmentalists. And this philosophy is being promoted all over the world. New Ager Maurice Strong headed the New World Order Earth Summit in Australia in November 2000.

In response to these conferences, President Clinton created the Council on Sustainable Development. "Smart Growth" was proposed to remedy our unsustainable lifestyles.

The solution was to reduce sprawl by restricting suburban/rural housing and increasing the density of cities with high rise apartment buildings along the mass transit lines being proposed and built.

By attacking the fishing and timber industry in Oregon causing massive unemployment people were forced to retrain and move to the big cities for employment. Towns who relied on these industries are now suffering economically.

With the building of walking and bicycling paths and the use of mass transit, it would therefore limit the use of automobiles. Current housing patterns are based on personal choices so as starters the citizenry must be programmed to accept smaller lots within designated areas. This drives up the cost of the land to the point where many people can no longer afford a home so they will be forced to live in these high rise apartments along the mass transit lines.

This far-reaching program is called social engineering. These restrictions will not become apparent overnight. It's been going on in Oregon since the early 70s. "Smart Growth" like President Bush's War on Terrorism, is a long-term plan for the entire restructuring of all of American society.

When I spoke to one of our county commissioners regarding "Smart Growth" she said "This applies in my county and throughout Oregon as well. The United States is in trouble." This lady not only answered my concerns but shared her heart with me. She is an exception to the rule when it comes to elected officials. Her other two Republican colleagues  however, out vote her and they promote this "Smart Growth" and "Sustainable Development" plan.

In closing, we must become acquainted with yet another term called Communitarianism, which places the importance of society ahead of the sovereign, unfettered rights of the individual. The dictionary defines it as a member of the Communist community. Our neighborhoods or communities are becoming part of the global community which is based on the belief that true community is rooted in the equitable sharing of values like political power, social justice and economic well being.

America is ever so gradually being reduced to third world status using the Internal Revenue Service to collect taxes and then redistributing funds to United Nations agencies which implement programs that further eliminate our sovereign rights given to us by our Founding Fathers. This generation is literally giving away the freedoms that so many good Americans fought and died for.

I agree with my County Commissioner. America is in deep trouble. Some claim if people would just turn out to vote in large numbers, this trend could be reversed. This is not true. A corrupt judicial system and dumbed down elected officials with no desire to honor their constitutional oath of office are the problem. Voters are too busy earning a living in this deliberate stressed-filled world to keep a close eye on how the people they elect vote. They trust them to do the honorable thing and today, it is hard to find a totally trustworthy and honorable person after he or she has been in office for awhile. Their heart may have initially been in the right place but soon [through consensus] they are blackmailed and compromised.  Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. About the only thing most elected officials want is another step up the political ladder and their very lucrative salaries, perks and pensions.


Betty Freauf has been a GOP activist for many years. Elected county chairman, state party secretary, congressional district chairman, candidate for Governor of Oregon in 1986, the house of reps in 1988 and 1990. 

She published a weekly "Legislative Action" newsletter for five Oregon Legislative Sessions, is an Excommunicated citizen Review Board Member to "WATCHDOG", Oregon's Child Protective Agency. (Fired for asking too many questions)


 

Related Articles:

Smart Growth - People Per Acre

'Smart Growth' Plan's Perils

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