Guest Post by NH State Rep. Jane Cormier - "ICLEI is ICKY!" - Granite Grok

Guest Post by NH State Rep. Jane Cormier – “ICLEI is ICKY!”

ICLEI is ICKY!

Okay, if you haven’t heard anything about the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) also known as Agenda 21, then you may have been living in a cave. ICLEI is a United Nations sponsored organization (that should tell us something right there) which helps promote “sustainability, climate protection, and clean energy initiative for towns, cities, and counties”. ICLEI supports (usually with GIANT federal tentacles) local governments by providing technical assistance and training opportunities to communities seeking its services. Sounds good doesn’t it? Actually, ICLEI is a lobbying and policy group that is designed to influence and change local governmental policies related to all aspects of human life. ICLEI/Agenda 21 is dedicated to changing the ideal of our inalienable rights which include life, liberty, and property. How does this happen?

Through legislation of course.

NH has set up regional planning commissions, which cities and towns are urged to join. Promoting the idea that cities and towns should accept federal (EPA/HUD/DOT) money (does that EVER work out?) to make regional changes in housing, transportation, and water management, these planning commissions can easily “sell” what is “best” for you. Sustainability has become the catch word here. (Whenever you see SUSTAINABILITY, your hackles should rise. “Sustainable Communities”, “NH Water Sustainability Commission”, “SMART Meters” – these are all directly or indirectly part of ICLEI.) This promotion of Agenda 21/ICLEI/Sustainability is all accomplished by imposing new laws and ordinances that bypass YOU, the taxpayers and voters. According to Stanley Kurtz, National Review Online, “One approach is to force suburban residents into densely packed cities by blocking development on the outskirts of metropolitan areas…” This effectively takes care of the “unsustainability” of automobiles “polluting our environment”, farmers and ranchers as custodians of our lands (hence, the goal of “re-wilding” of America up to 50%!), meat based diets (cattle grazing is “unsustainable”), and finally the government overtaking our free market system by mandating all “sustainable levels”. What is ICKY about ICLEI is it stands in opposition to what our Founding Fathers and Republic espouses – common good does NOT trump individual liberty in America. This is just one more example of our government believing they know what is best for us. ICKY.

Currently, four municipalities are members of ICLEI – Wolfeboro, Nashua, Keene, and Portsmouth. Now, here is the punch line: our Constitution prohibits states from entering into any compact or agreement with a foreign entity without prior approval of Congress.  The process has clearly been usurped and outrageously so. (But, if you think the Constitution is just a “dead” document, so what?)

On February 6, 2013 our NH State legislature voted to kill HB 144 (by a vote of 211 to 141) which would have prohibited “the state, counties, towns, and cities from implementing programs of expending money for, receiving funding from, or contracting with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.” The majority of the house killed this bill and you should check to see how YOUR representative voted. The future of our state is in YOUR hands. There is a plethora of information on the web regarding ICLEI and Agenda 21. Don’t be one of the uneducated few who will leave our “Live Free or Die State” in the hands of a U.N. mandate. Now, THAT is ICKY!

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