Senator moves to thwart U.N.'s Agenda 21 'plot'
BY World's Editorials Writers
Thursday, December 27, 2012
12/27/12 at 4:00 AM
It seems almost preposterous, but there are still people out there who sincerely believe there is a plot by the United Nations to take over the United States and evidently Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, is one of them.
The latest conspiracy theory making the rounds on the Internet is the U.N.'s Agenda 21, which is seen by some, including Anderson, as a way for the U.N. to somehow gain control of our land and dictate how it can be used.
Anderson plans to introduce Senate Bill 23, calling for a legal ban on city membership in groups tied to the Agenda 21 proposal. And he is basing his legislation on a law passed in Alabama. Well, that certainly is reassuring. The Alabama law is aimed in part at cutting off state support for the groups pushing limits on property owner rights.
Anderson, a farmer, says he is concerned about the federal government forcing rules on a wide variety of things, including the creation of dust and how land can be used.
Here's a hint for the senator: Federal, state and local governments have been setting rules on how land can be used for a long time. Some call it zoning.
Agenda 21 is a nonbinding document that is a comprehensive plan of global, national and local action to preserve the environment. It deals mostly with bike trails, mass transit, sustainable farming and energy conservation.
That hardly sounds like a devious plan to take over the world. And do we need a law that tells Oklahoma's cities the groups with which they can affiliate?
The International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives is the target of much of the ire of Anderson and his fellow conspiricists. They see it as a U.N. tool to take over private land and force the world's population into collectivized urban areas. What the U.N. intends to do with all that land is unclear.
Tulsa was once a member of the ICLE but is no longer. If, however, Tulsa or Tullahassee decided it wanted to join, it's none of Anderson's business and a bill forbidding such a decision is foolish.
Sen. Anderson, the Mayan calendar was wrong, the government is not coming to get your guns and the United Nations is not plotting to take over the United States.
We'd like to believe that the upcoming session of the Legislature would deal with the myriad of serious problems facing this state. If this legislation is any indication, that, sadly, is likely far too much to hope for.
Original Print Headline: Agenda?
