Circumventing Constitutional Government
by Bob Dill

   We the people of the United States have had a glorious 227-year history under a constitution that established a republican form of government. Since those early days, personal freedom has gradually eroded.
   The results of a tragic war in 1865 stripped power granted by the Constitution from the several states and strengthened the central government. Using that power, the federal government has gradually trimmed the freedom of the people. Until recently, the loss of personal freedom was so gradual that it went unnoticed by many. Recently, however, the pace has quickened.
   Elected officials, from the national to the local level have been taught to use techniques to avoid accountability. The methods were developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the United Nations.
   Henry Lamb, chairman of Sovereignty International, an organization that monitors this activity, labels the man made phenomenon "a new mechanism of governance." He further describes it as "a process to formulate public policy by non-elected individuals, unencumbered by the legislative process." It goes by many names. That is why so many citizens have been conditioned to be unaware of its existence.
   Lamb notes that Georgetown University calls it "The Third Sector." The United Nations calls it "Civil Society." The President's Council on Sustainable Development calls it "a new, collaborative decision process."
   The process has been incredibly successful at the international level and is rapidly becoming equally successful in the United States, according to Lamb. He writes: "In 1995, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a 'network' of special interest groups, banded together to urge UNESCO to declare Yellowstone National Park a World Heritage Site 'in Danger.' The designation required a willing Clinton-Gore administration to impose additional land-use restrictions on private property beyond the park's boundary. Neither local, state, nor federal officials had any say in the matter.
   For more than a decade, the President's Council for Sustainable Development has created hundreds of "networks" such as the Sierra Club's "Smart Growth Program." These groups may be called "visioning" council, "watershed" councils or "Lake Robinson Community Council."
   Henry Lamb explains that the "councils" usually consist of individuals "who are government employees or executives or staff of special interest groups with only a token number of carefully selected elected officials and business leaders....In a given community, the appropriate council is chosen and begins meeting to discuss the future of the community." When the council is fully formed, "big wheels have been recruited" to make a public announcement that the citizens of the community have reached a "consensus" and made a "collaborative" decision regarding plans for the future of the community. (Richland County, Kershaw County, Lexington County)
   It is not a vision of the citizens of the community. Average citizens rarely know about the meetings. If they show up, they are likely to be ridiculed and their positions misrepresented or ignored.
   Insiders are becoming wealthy participants of this cozy relationship between government and special interest groups that is fueled by greed and a lust for power. Lamb offers examples such as "The Nature Conservancy, and similar groups," that are "used by government to buy property, which is then resold to the government for a profit."
   Henry Lamb notes that this new mechanism of governance has become so prevalent that Georgetown University has developed special Ph.D program to train special-interest organization leaders be even more effective. He concludes: "The great danger in this emerging new system of governance is the absence of accountability." If citizens don't like the decisions, there is not one to be held responsible.