A wise and wonderful old grey-haired philosopher once said, "you never get ahead by always being against." It is time that Americans who love "the land of the free" get ahead. To do so, we need to not only be "against" those policies which infringe freedom; we must also advance those principles which ensure our freedom. Freedom Week is an effort to identify, celebrate, and reinstate those principles into public policy at every level of governance.
Why freedom is at risk
The explosion of federal, state, and local regulations in recent years is not the result of elected officials responding to the expressed desires of their electors. It is instead, the manifestation of the reappearance and emerging ascendancy of a system of governance that America knocked off track nearly a century ago. Our little victories, such as the defeat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the defeat of the last three nominations for Biosphere Reserves, are but temporary annoyances for those who no longer embrace the principles of government on which America was founded.
To get ahead, and ultimately to prevail, it is essential that we understand who and what the enemy actually is. The enemy is not the "liberals," or the UN, or the federal government, or the "green" NGOs. They are simply the instruments through which the real enemy facilitates its system of governance. The real enemy is much more elusive; the real enemy is an idea. Throughout the 20th century, this idea, or concept of a system of governance, has struggled to gain ascendancy in the world. Throughout this century, this system of governance has appeared, with varying degrees of success, in different places, at different times, and described by a variety of names. American freedom is at risk because this concept of governance is now emerging around the world, called by a new set of names, but constructed on the same principles that America has so emphatically rejected in the past. The proponents of this system of governance are committed, dedicated, smart, and rich. They are succeeding in America, and around the world, where their predecessors failed. American freedom is at greater risk than at any time in its short history. To get ahead, and to ultimately prevail, we must understand who and what the enemy is, and how the enemy operates. Then we must develop a new strategy so strong that even the "gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Understanding the enemy
The idea in conflict with American freedom is a concept of governance in which there is no war, no suffering, no struggle for survival. It envisions a world of "equity" in which all people share equally in the earth's bounty -- and in the toil required to produce it. It is a compelling idea for many people, especially for those who must constantly struggle for survival, who see it as "unfair" that some people prosper while others suffer in poverty. It is a concept that is particularly appealing to people who have been the innocent victims of war.
To achieve this utopian system of governance, there must be a central regulating authority to decide the quantity of natural resources that may be used without endangering biodiversity. A central authority must decide how much greenhouse gas may be emitted without endangering the global climate. A central authority must have the power to prevent war by disarming all nations, and all people. A central authority must decide how many people the earth can support, and have the power to keep population within safe limits. A central authority must have the financial resources to enforce the "right" of all people to "a full stomach," health care, and decent housing. A central authority must have the power to take "from each according to his ability," and redistribute to "each according to his need."
There is nothing new about this system of governance -- except the modern names used to describe it. It is the system of governance enjoyed by kings and dictators throughout history. It is the system of governance championed by Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Milner, who modified the concept to transfer authority and power from a single sovereign, to a sovereign institution christened by Colonel Mendell House as The League of Nations. Reflecting the views and values of their electors, the United States Senate knocked the concept off track when it refused to ratify the League's Charter. The League withered, but the concept of governance did not. Marx, Lenin, and Stalin rekindled the concept with more modifications and a new name. For 70 years, central authority and power was held in a Politbureau that regulated every aspect of every human life throughout eastern Europe.
The Rhodes-Milner-House version of the concept differed slightly from the Marx-Lenin-Stalin version. The latter group believed the use of force was necessary to coerce cooperation; the former group believed that education was the source of cooperation, with force available to be used for the uneducable. The United Nations was created by the remnants of the Rhodes-Milner-House group in 1945. Convinced that education was a more effective tool than military might, the reincarnation of the old League set out to educate the world about the benefits of its concept of governance. When the Marx-Lenin-Stalin version of the concept collapsed, the United Nations was well-positioned to move in and fill the vacuum. The world has now been sufficiently "educated" to embrace the benefits offered by the concept of governance which promises no wars, no suffering, and no struggling for survival.
How the enemy operates
Identify a problem -- real or perceived -- and offer a reasonably credible solution. This is the underlying operating principle used to "educate" people about the benefits of the old concept of governance all dressed up in new names. "Communism," and "socialism" are both tainted terms in much of the world. The new all-encompassing name for the old concept is "Global Governance." Proponents of the old concept are quick to declare that global governance is not world government. And here is revealed another important operating principle: "a rose called by any other name...." A pile of cow manure can be described as a "biodiversity enhancer," but it still smells like, and is, a pile of cow manure. Global governance smells like, and is, world government. The United Nations is consolidating authority and power to regulate every aspect of every life by "educating" people about the benefits of "sustainable development" and the dangers of global warming, over-population, economic disparity, and international terrorism.
The education campaign has been incredibly successful. In hardly a generation, the values of "sustainability" have permeated public schools and pushed aside the principles of personal responsibility and individual freedom. The idea of national sovereignty is described as obsolete, promoted only by right-wing radicals. The idea of free markets is described as corporate greed that ignores the "rights" of workers and rapes mother earth and ravages her resources to produce products for the rich while ignoring the needs of the poor. Land, and the resources it contains, are assets held in common by all people, to be administered on the basis of need as determined by a central authority. These ideas are now accepted as the norm among many, if not most, Americans. These are the ideas that drive public policies such as the Endangered Species Act, the Ecosystem Management policy, the School to Work Act, and national and personal disarmament. These ideas are the enemy. Our strategies must not only rail against the institutions of government that implement these ideas. Our strategies must fight fire with fire; ideas with ideas.
The ideas of governance on which America is founded represent, perhaps, man's greatest achievement. The idea that government must be empowered only by the consent of the governed, is the most powerful idea about governance ever conceived. At the end of the day, it is the idea, and the system of governance, that will guide all people to healthy, happy, and prosperous lives. But there is little to prevent the world from suffering through another century, or millennium for that matter, of the inevitable oppression that results from self-empowered government that grants, or denies, freedom and wealth to its citizens.
New strategies - Freedom Week
Without reducing our resistance to every manifestation of global governance advanced through federal policy, we must also develop a strategic offense. We must not only be "against," we must be "for." We must be for those principles of self-governance which inspired the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. We can no longer be content to fly a flag and light fireworks on the fourth of July. We must do more -- a lot more.
Freedom Week is conceived to be a week-long celebration of the principles of self-governance that empowers America. Its purpose is to focus public attention on just how wonderful it is to be an American, and more important, exactly what makes it so wonderful. It is conceived to be a week-long, national "teach-in" through which communities around the country participate in a range of activities which educate and appreciate the fundamental principles of American self-governance. Composition contests in writing, music, and electronic communications, can inspire thousands of students and church goers to think about, and perhaps rediscover, the values and principles that define America. Parades, concerts, study-groups, town hall meetings, all focusing on the values and principles of American self-governance, conducted in every community in America, sponsored by grassroots organizations can have a profound effect on whether or not our nation is consumed by global governance.
The United Nations is planning a stupendous celebration for the year 2000. A new United Nations Institution will be established: the Assembly of the People. Three-hundred to six-hundred selected representatives of accredited NGOs will represent the interests of the world before the UN General Assembly. It is a millennium celebration, celebrating the "Sustainable Millennium."
People who cherish American values of self-governance will not be selected to participate. Grassroots organizations that promote such values are rarely accredited by the UN. We have time to plan and develop our own celebration during Freedom Week in 1999, and by Freedom Week in the year 2000, we can generate enough enthusiasm across America to enlist the rest of the world into helping make the new millennium a "Freedom Millennium," in which every nation seeks to create a government empowered only by the consent of the governed -- before the end of the 21st century.
The Freedom Week Campaign begins July 4th, 1998. Organizations have a full year to plan, organize, and prepare for the first Freedom Week Celebrations during the first week of July, 1999. By the year 2000, every non-socialist organization in the country should be involved in Freedom Week activities.
How Freedom Week works
Every organization is encouraged to adopt the Freedom Week Proclamation, and register the adoption on the Freedom Week web site. By so doing, individuals and organizations around the world can see how much America values the principles of self-governance discovered and defined by our founders. Organizations are encouraged to get every unit of local and state government to adopt the Freedom Week Proclamation, and register the adoption on the web site.
Every organization is encouraged to sponsor, or help sponsor, local composition contests in schools and churches, with cash prizes awarded at the local level.
We will try to recruit an organization in each state to serve as state coordinator, to provide a state prize to be awarded from among the local winners, and to promote adoption of the Freedom Week Proclamation in the state legislature. The activities planned by local and state organizations may be reported electronically, and compiled by state on the web site. As the year progresses, we should see steady growth in the number of organizations that adopt the Proclamation, as well as the kinds of activities that are being planned for Freedom Week, 1999. The web site will be a world-wide advertisement for those principles that make America great.
The purpose of all the contests and all the activity is to concentrate on and direct attention to the fundamental principle of government empowered only by the consent of the governed, and expressed exclusively through the officials elected by those who are governed. In America, and throughout the world, individual freedom should never be restricted by policies created or imposed by non-elected officials. This principle needs to be rediscovered, reinvigorated, and applied to every public policy that is proposed. Freedom Week should find 10,000 ways to make this principle real in every community and every unit of local, state, and federal government. This principle is the foundation of individual freedom. It is what makes free markets possible. It is the power of individuals to limit and control their government, that when expressed collectively through their government, that is the essence of national sovereignty.
Freedom Week is a coordinated strategic offensive, that when coupled with the existing aggressive defense, should give sufficient backbone to our elected officials that once again, America can reject the concept of governance by a central, all-powerful authority, whether it's called global governance, or sustainable development, or "biodiversity enhancement."
Get your organization(s) to adopt the Freedom Week Proclamation, and register your organization on the web site. Get involved. Get creative. Get every organization in your community to help keep America the "land of the free and the home of the brave."