There is nothing ambiguous or uncertain about this statement:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. (10th Amendment) Where in the Constitution does Sen. Christopher Dodd find any authority to even propose his "Livable Communities Act"?

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, authorizes Congress "to lay and collect taxes for the common defense and general welfare" of the United States. The next 17 paragraphs define the specific area of activity the founders considered to encompass the "general welfare." To ensure there was no misinterpretation or misunderstanding of their intention to limit the power of the federal government, the founders included the 10th Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to be involved in how state and local communities organize themselves.

Global governance, however, says:

All countries should establish as a matter of urgency a national policy on human settlements, embodying the distribution of population, and related economic and social activities, over the national territory.
Jerome Corsi's blockbuster reveals globalists' plan to put U.S. on the chopping block -- "America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty"

Agenda 21, Chapter 10 declares:

Expanding human requirements and economic activities are placing ever increasing pressures on land resources, creating competition and conflicts and resulting in suboptimal use of both land and land resources. If, in the future, human requirements are to be met in a sustainable manner, it is now essential to resolve these conflicts and move towards more effective and efficient use of land and its natural resources.
Why is Dodd proposing legislation to comply with global-governance requirements rather than honoring the limitations of Congress imposed by the Constitution? Organization of local communities should be a local issue; the federal government should get its nose out of local affairs.

Anyone who reads Chapter 10 of Agenda 21 and then reads Dodd's bill will immediately conclude that the bill is designed to comply with the recommendations of this United Nations document.

Typically, the actual authors of such legislation deny any connection at all the U.N., and claim that those who try to make a connection are just black-helicopter conspiracy theorists. Their denial assumes that the average person will never take the time to read Agenda 21, Chapter 10, or the other U.N. documents that recommend comprehensive land-use planning and the creation of sustainable (or "livable") communities.

This is how global governance overwhelms the Constitution. We have elected a majority of senators and representatives who have abandoned the idea of limited government, who believe that their election entitles them to do whatever they wish.

The executive branch is worse than Congress. The EPA, DOI, HUD and other federal departments have been implementing "sustainable development" directly from Agenda 21 for the last 15 years. Sustainable development is sold to local communities as the way to protect the environment and ensure that future generations have the resources they need.

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What is not discussed is the fact that the transformation of local communities into sustainable or so-called "livable" communities removes the decision-making process from individuals and gives it to the government. A sustainable community is defined by a comprehensive land-use plan developed by "stakeholders" who limit land use to achieve the goals set forth in Agenda 21. Again, the folks who are involved in this process quite often deny that their activities have anything to do with the United Nations or Agenda 21. But compare virtually any local comprehensive land-use plan to the requirements of Agenda 21 and you will see that the similarities could not possibly be an accident, especially when you find the same similarities in community after community.

Dodd's "livable communities" is nothing more than legislating Agenda 21, which is a process that erodes individual freedom and replaces it with top-down tyranny. The dreams of thousands of people have been crushed by comprehensive land-use plans, devised by busy-body stakeholders and forced down the throat of community after community. Read about some of them online. Here are three free instructional videos that will show you exactly how sustainable development has permeated domestic policy.

America must reject global governance and every elected official who promotes it. America must remain a sovereign nation and protect the individual freedom our Constitution guarantees. Sen. Dodd and his ilk are only too willing to bow to politically correct claims of the international community. Freedom cannot survive global governance; Americans must decide whether they want to control their government, or be controlled by it.

 

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Previous articles by Henry Lamb: Doing the Socialists' bidding

INTERPOL - Executive Order 13524 amending EO 12425

Sustainable Development Law: S-1619 |  Enslavement by a New Copenhagen Protocol

Welcome to Global Governance | Sustainable Development: Transforming America

Smothering land rights with an energy bill?  | Global Governance: Why? How? When?

 34 New World Heritage Sites Proposed

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Copyright (C) 2009 Freedom.org.  All rights reserved

Henry Lamb is chairman of Sovereignty International.

Email: henry@freedom.org

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