With a veto-proof majority, the Missouri legislature approved a popular bill protecting private property and due process rights by banning a deeply controversial United Nations “sustainability” scheme known as UN Agenda 21. The legislation, SB 265, now heads to Democrat Governor Jay Nixon, who has not yet taken a public position on the issue.
The effort to ban Agenda 21 in Missouri, widely celebrated by activists from across the political spectrum, comes in the wake of similar moves to stop the UN plan across America. In Alabama, for example, lawmakers in both houses unanimously approved a law last year prohibiting the international “sustainable development” agenda within the state. Numerous other states are working to do the same, and multiple legislatures have adopted strongly worded resolutions blasting the program.
In Missouri, the legislation was approved 24 to 9 in the GOP-controlled Senate last month. The Republican-dominated state House of Representatives, meanwhile, approved the bill 131 to 42 on May 8, also with a slight veto-proof majority. It remains unclear whether the governor will try to stop the legislation, sign it, or simply do nothing and let it quietly become law, according to news reports.
With lawmakers able to override any potential veto, activists who supported the effort are cautiously optimistic that the state government, as well as city and county authorities, will soon be prohibited by law from implementing the controversial UN agenda in Missouri. Liberty-minded legislators, responding to strong grassroots pressure from constituents, also say the law is needed to protect the rights of citizens.
The two-page legislation is short and simple. “Neither the state of Missouri nor any political subdivision shall adopt or implement policy recommendations that deliberately or inadvertently infringe or restrict private property rights without due process, as may be required by policy recommendations originating in, or traceable to Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations in 1992 at its Conference on Environment and Development,” the bill reads, defining political subdivisions as cities, counties, public-private partnerships, and other public entities.
If the legislation becomes law, the state government and all of its political subdivisions would also be barred from adopting or implementing any other “international law” or “ancillary plan of action” that contravenes the U.S. or Missouri constitutions. Lawmakers in the “Show-Me” State and around the country say such prohibitions are needed to protect citizens from unelected international bureaucrats seeking to impose their will on Americans — especially considering recent overt moves by the UN to broadly expand its powers on everything from guns and healthcare to the environment and welfare.
The Missouri bill ends with a ban on cooperating with UN allies involved in pushing the controversial agenda. “Since the United Nations has accredited and enlisted numerous nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations to assist in the implementation of its policies relative to Agenda 21 around the world, the state of Missouri and all political subdivisions are prohibited from entering into any agreement with, expending any sum of money for, receiving funds from, contracting services from, or giving financial aid to those nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations as defined in Agenda 21,” it states.
The widely criticized UN scheme, adopted by governments and dictatorships worldwide at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro more than two decades ago, has been marketed as a way to make humanity more “sustainable.” According to UN documents, however, Agenda 21 essentially seeks to restructure human civilization under the guise of environmentalism. Even human thought is in the crosshairs, official reports show.
While the UN plot has not been ratified by the U.S. Senate as required by the Constitution, it has been quietly creeping into states and local communities with prodding and bribes from the federal executive branch. “Here in Arizona, Agenda 21 is slowly creeping into the state,” popular Arizona state Sen. Judy Burges, a Republican who sponsored similar legislation in her state, told The New American recently. “It has its tentacles in everything from the schools to local government all the way up to the state.”
Also key to foisting the agenda on communities are “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs), such as the Germany-based ICLEI, formerly known as the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives. During an interview with The New American in Rio last June at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, ICLEI President David Cadman said he did not understand opposition to Agenda 21 and did not believe state governments could ban it. If Missouri’s legislation becomes law, however, all state and local agencies will be barred from working with his controversial organization.
“This is truly a bill that’s going to help protect Missourians and their private property rights,” said Missouri Rep. Lyle Rowland, a Republican who sponsored the legislation. “Just because Agenda 21 hasn’t been approved by the federal government — there’s a lot of things that we get hit with that there hasn’t been any legislation passed on.” Numerous other lawmakers echoed those sentiments, saying it was important to defend the rights of citizens from unconstitutional assaults.
As has become typical in the increasingly fierce nationwide battle, some Democrat politicians opposed the bill, mostly citing bizarre arguments that revealed a profound and troubling ignorance of the entire subject. House Democrat Leader Jake Hummel, for example, apparently woefully uninformed about Agenda 21 and UN sustainability schemes, absurdly compared the effort to protect private property rights, due process, and state sovereignty with regulating extraterrestrials.
“Could we talk about space aliens coming down? That could happen,” he said, drawing a swift rebuke from better-educated legislators. “Do you think we should waste time on a mythical thing?” It was not immediately clear whether Rep. Hummel was unaware of the existence of Agenda 21, which is touted all over the UN’s websites, or was simply engaged in a strange attempt at humor or ridicule by feigning ignorance.
Of course, many Democrats have supported efforts to stop Agenda 21 — in Alabama, every lawmaker voted to support a similar bill. Still, some rabidly pro-UN, big government-supporting lawmakers have also resorted to childish jokes, suggesting either that the UN plan does not exist or that it is actually just a harmless “non-binding” agreement. The international body, however, actually offers a concise summary of the massive plan on its website that has sparked alarm among lawmakers and activists nationwide.
“Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts (sic) on the environment,” the UN admits on its website. Even the relatively tame summary has sparked suspicions from analysts, who point out that virtually every aspect of human existence has some “impact” on the “environment.” The UN even claims, for example, that carbon dioxide — a gas exhaled by everyone on Earth and required for all plant life — is a “pollutant” in need of a global CO2 regulation regime.
If the latest legislation eventually becomes law, Missouri would be the second state after Alabama to protect private property, state sovereignty, individual liberties, and due process rights by officially banning the controversial UN program. Recent bids to ban the agenda in Arizona and Oklahoma almost succeeded, and multiple other states are working to adopt similar laws. In addition, numerous state and county governments have adopted powerful resolutions blasting Agenda 21 as a “socialist” and “communist” plot completely at odds with American values and constitutional self-government.
While the UN has found a determined ally in much of the establishment media and among some extremist Democrats, the effort to quash Agenda 21 is gaining momentum across America. The Republican Party officially opposes it, and even liberty-minded Democrats have joined the movement to protect private property and national sovereignty. Grassroots activists, who have largely led the effort to stop UN encroachments, said the legislation in Missouri was likely just a harbinger of more major victories to come.
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, politics, and more. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com.
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