2005 ADVANCES THE STRUCTURE AND POWER OF WORLD GOVERNMENT
Joan M. Veon
Last year was another instrumental year in the advance of world government. While most commentators will concentrate on popularized events, many will not discuss the latest steps taken to cement the final touches to a world governmental structure that has been in the making for the last 150 years or so. In order to understand the importance of 2005's global achievements in the march towards global governance which is the integration of the world's peoples, countries, and philosophies, we must briefly visit the past.
While we cannot recount all, the later half of the 19th century birthed Fabian socialism in 1883, the year that Karl Marx died. The small group which included Sidney and Beatrice Webb who decided to name their society after the Third Century Roman General Quintus Fabius Maximus who never confronted his enemy but used successful guerrilla tactics to wear them down. The aims of the Fabian socialists, according to the "Basis" which was adopted by them in 1919, are "the reorganization of society by the emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual ownership and vesting them in the community for the general benefit" (Edward Pease, History of the Fabian Socialists, 1916, p.296, Appendix II). Founder Sidney Webb described socialism as "The conscious and deliberate substitution, in industrial as well as political matters, of the collective self-government of the community as a whole, organized on a democratic basis for the individual control over other men's lives, which unrestrained private ownership of land and industrial capital inevitable involves" (Anne Fremantle, This Little Band of Profits: The British Fabians, 1960).
It is the vision of the Webb's and their disciples such as H.G. Wells and John Maynard Keynes, that we see in all that is happening around us today. It includes the graduated income tax, control of the banking system, free trade and a globalized level of government that shifts the power of national governments to the international level, transfer of wealth and a change in property rights.
Let us re-count the 1913 birth of the U.S. tax code. Over the past 92 years, the burden of taxation has been shifted from the highest income tax to the middle class as income tax rates under Ronald Reagan dropped from 60% to 35%. That same year, the Federal Reserve Act was passed. What this meant is that a private corporation, the Federal Reserve, now manages the monetary and financial system of the United States of America. As such, they have greater power than our president and Congress as they control the banking system and the country's business cycle. You will remember that the purpose of the Federal Reserve was to eliminate the ups and downs of the business cycle. However, the country has not experienced that as it appears that the Fed has embraced Joseph Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction which is based on the boom/bust business cycle (Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 1942, p.83). Will the American people ever figure out that the reason why we cannot forgive ourselves the interest on the national debt is because we owe it to a private corporation and they want what the interest which Congress originally agreed to when they passed the Federal Reserve Act. If you want to know where they get their money to lend to our government-they print it!
Beginning in 1944, the walls between the nation-states began to fall as a new international infrastructure was set in place above the nation-states. One fine example of this was the United States signing in 1947 the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs which became the World Trade Organization in 1994. With the birth of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank, the financial and economic barriers fell, with the birth of the United Nations, the political barriers fell, with the birth of the World Trade Organization, the trade barriers fell, with the birth of the International Criminal Court, the legal barriers fell, and as a result of 9/11, military and intelligence barriers fell between the nation-states. Thus today, we are in a borderless world.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon, issued Executive Order No. 11647 which divided the United States into ten regions, each with its own administrator who then reports directly to the president. Described as "metro government" or "regional government", it decreases the lines of power and authority which centralizes all the decision-making in the White House. Today, Metro or Regional Government is alive and well as it is being given greater position not only in all of the new rebuilding of the new development plans being made public by Mississippi and New Orleans, but with many states trying to pass laws to consolidate the local, county, and village levels of government. Furthermore, our government has circumvented the power of the states by now taking the funds the states send them and re-distributing it to the metro or regional government instead! Many of the infrastructure needs such as transportation, waste, water, etc. are all on a "regional" basis.
In 1990, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales put together a new organization, the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders' Forum, with the purpose of setting up public-private partnerships-PPP between governments, business, and non-governmental organizations. Basically, public-private partnerships provide a way for corporations to become "co-managers" with government regarding the governance of the country. The Prince admitted in a speech while he was in the United States that he met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to see if business and government could work together. What came out of their discussions was the U.N. Global Compact. Today, thousands of public-private partnerships are operating world-wide and are now commonplace. They include partnerships for schools, sewer systems, transportation, water, utilities, etc. In fact the proposed Trans Texas Corridor will be a PPP. At the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development, over 250 PPP's were formed-that activity was unprecedented. One is the Congo Basin Forest Partnership which involves 14 governments, including the U.S. and 8 African countries, 8 environmental groups like the World Wildlife Fund along with the American Forest and Paper Association which represents 200 companies. This partnership includes 74 million acres of land in Africa. Furthermore, there are dozens of these types of complex partnerships that the U.S. has entered into that include countries around the world.
In 1992, the UN held the "Rio Earth Summit" in which those attending, which numbered less than 30,000, agreed to Agenda 21 which is a complete reordering of the planet. It basically elevates the earth above the value of man as man's value is dependent on if he or she can produce. It basically says that the earth's resources need to be counted, controlled, and monitored for "future generations." Fifteen years later, every country in the world has changed how their government operates as sustainable development is carried out worldwide. One of the treaties encompassed in Agenda 21 is the UN Biological Diversity Treaty which says man has to be sequestered into "growth areas" so that the rest of the country can be put back for the purpose of re-wilding or allowing animals to roam freely.
In 2000, the United Nations was given an overhaul in which more power was given to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly. It was also given the ability to have its own rapid defense force. Furthermore, it was given the ability to raise its own finances through various schemes to be determined in the future. Lastly, the UN unveiled the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger, and disease worldwide which will demand new ways to find new sources of funds. With this background, we can now understand the events of 2005.
Since 9/11 which tore down the final barriers between the nation-states which were the intelligence and military barriers, the world has entered the "finishing stage." By this we are talking about finding ways to integrate the people of the world so that they are one and feel they have common concerns-or catastrophic occurrences which blend the peoples together as one. The people now have to be brought together as one people. The South Seas Tsunami did just that. The outpouring of aid from around the world was unprecedented. Even Presidents Bush and Clinton teamed up to raise monies. Schools, churches, the Boy Scouts, department stores, football teams, singers, actors, and famous people from across the U.S. raised monies. The U.S. gave $1B in gifts and donations alone. At the 2005 World Economic Forum, Sharon Stone put up $10,000 and challenged attendees to give money for the tsunami. Within minutes, she raised $1M. Interestingly enough, a number of the corporations of the Global Compact were there, even before governments could get aid to the devastated area. This global outpouring of compassion helped to solidify the people of the world. Then Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continued the compassionate response that only comes from the most sacred place a person has, the heart. Now it was time for other countries to come to the aid of America.
Since there are no longer any barriers between the nation-states, that means the poor, starving, and diseased of the world are everyone's responsibility, or so they would have us believe. The Fabian socialists would call this a transfer of wealth. At the 2004 Group of Eight meeting in Sea Island, Georgia and then at the 2005 World Economic Forum in January, French President Jacques Chirac called for a global tax for the poor. In Davos, he specified a tax on airline tickets. At the July, 2005 Group of Eight meeting in Scotland, it was high on the agenda for the heads of state with the French specifying the parameters. When I asked Chirac if there would be other kinds of global taxes if this was successful, he told me they had many other types planned. In fact, right before Christmas, the French Government passed a levy tax on airline tickets to generate $236M a year for health programs aimed at helping the world's poorest countries. Of course this measure was applauded by the United Nations as a creative way of raising money. Perhaps I should mention that this is the first time since the Roman Empire in the time of the birth of Jesus, that a global tax has been passed.
With regard to regionalism, while the U.S. has been divided up nationally, we are also part of a hemispheric free trade bloc known as the Free Trade Areas of the Americas-FTAA. While the FTAA will involve all 34 countries in this hemisphere, it is being implemented gradually. The North American Free Trade Area-NAFTA was passed in 1994 and in 2005, the Central American Free Trade Agreement-CAFTA was passed. Because of the opposition to this bill, Bush made a special trip to Capital Hill where he twisted arms by granting over 6,000 pork barrel promises which were funded by the Transportation Bill pass before the summer recess.
It should be noted that any type of regional government-either within the U.S. or within the hemisphere is government by appointed officials and not ELECTED officials. Just as the UN system is based on appointed officials, so too is regional government which is the extension of the UN form of government. In other words, the ability of the people to have a say will not be through elected officials but by APPOINTED officials. In Our Global Neighborhood, The Commission on Global Governance in 1995 wrote, "The UN must prepare for a time when regionalism becomes more ascendant worldwide, and even help the process." This brings us to the new actors that are now involved in governance.
The globalists do not like to refer to the new structure which is being birthed in the world as "world government." Instead, they prefer to call it "global governance." This term refers to all the new actors that are making their views known. In the past, at the United Nations General Assembly, only member-states made speeches during the General Assembly, but because of the rise of corporations through the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, the International Chamber of Commerce and other international groups, business and non-governmental organizations now give presentations. Also, both of these groups freely lobby at the UN, at global conferences, and nationally.
Foundations have long been an actor on the international stage. Of the top 50 foundation in the United States in 2003, the Ford Foundation ranks No.2 in size at $10.6B, behind the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at $26.8B. The total yearly giving of the top 50 foundations is well over $133.6B. Foundations play a very major role today in making and changing society and values. Rene Wormser wrote in 1958, "The influence of the foundation complex in internationalism has reach far into government, into the policymaking circles of Congress and into the State Department. This has been effected through the pressure of public opinion, mobilized by the instruments of the foundations" (Foundations-Their Power and Influence). The question asked by the Reece Committee which delved into the power of foundations was, "To what extent, if any, are the funds of the large foundations aiding and abetting Marxist tendencies in the United States and weakening the love which every American should have for his way of life?"
At the heart of Agenda 21 is sustainable development which supports "highest and best use" of the world's resources which includes you and me. As a result of Agenda 21's, Biological Diversity Treaty, man needs to be sequestered into growth areas. In 1997, the state of Maryland was the first to pass "Smart Growth" legislation which designates areas of growth that a state will allow in order to support those areas with infrastructure. Non-growth areas are those that will not be supported by the State with tax dollars for infrastructure. Maryland's Smart Growth legislation was in effect the passage of the UN Biological Diversity Treaty.
In 2005, personal property rights, the cornerstone of American civilization, were dealt a severe blow with the Supreme Court Kelo vs. New London ruling which says that the city had the right to use eminent domain to force highest and best use of property that would create jobs and increase tax revenue for the public good. Around the U.S., the use of eminent domain is gaining popularity. Now everyone's home and property is at risk.
In September, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour brought together a team of 110 urban planners in architecture, regional and community planning, civil and transportation engineering, environmentalism, codes and laws, retail, economics, public process and communication who came together to envision and plan to rebuild 11 coastal cities and 120 miles of coastal region. Headed up by the Congress for New Urbanism, they are now in the process of obtaining community agreement for their plans. It should be noted that the "new urbanism" which the Congress uses is basically Smart Growth or the UN Biological Diversity Treaty. It encompasses a return to the town planning principles in practice before the automobile, recycling existing buildings and land where possible, promoting a sense of community, revitalizing historic downtowns and residential neighborhood, giving people the option of walking, bilking or taking public transportation, high density building, and sustainable transportation which is mass transit.
The New Urbanism encompasses the sustainable philosophy of highest and best use. Therefore, if there are key neighborhoods that can be rebuilt to attract businesses: hotels, office buildings, convention centers to bring in more tax revenues, those neighborhoods will be subject to eminent domain. The plans drawn up by the Congress for New Urbanism also use regional or metro government as well as public-private partnerships.
In summary, 2005 moved us closer to world government. There is a continuing revolution over rights, values, property, and form of government. The barriers between the nation-states are gone and in its place is regionalism, supported by public-private-partnership-both advocate a structure change in government and hence, governance. There are new and powerful players that have and are changing societies norms. Transfer of wealth is now under the guise of disaster relief and airline taxes. In addition, our government is working on an "open skies" agreements with all the countries of the world. Currently they are negotiating with the EU. This means that any airline that we sign the agreement with can fly into U.S. airports and it means that the U.S. would open up the ability of foreigners to purchase our airline companies. Furthermore, the rights of the individual are now filtered through the lenses of sustainable development's "highest and best use." Personal property rights are being diluted as a result of highest and best use. The bottom line is that a permanent revolution is taking place before our very eyes. Unless you connect the dots, you will not see it or understand it.