The Tea Party Targets... Sustainable Development? (Mother Jones)

[kpete]

The Tea Party Targets... Sustainable Development?

In the tea partiers’ dystopian vision, the increased density favored by planners to allow for better mass transit becomes compulsory "human habitation zones."

If you believe conservative activists, smart growth is really a global conspiracy to herd Americans into "human habitation zones."

Thu Nov. 18, 2010 3:00 AM PST

First, they took on the political establishment in Congress. Now, tea partiers have trained their sights on a new and insidious target: local planning and zoning commissions, which activists believe are carrying out a global conspiracy to trample American liberties and force citizens into Orwellian "human habitation zones."

At the root of this plot is the admittedly sinister-sounding Agenda 21, an 18-year-old UN plan to encourage countries to consider the environmental impacts of human development. Tea partiers see Agenda 21 behind everything from a septic tank inspection law in Florida to a plan in Maine to reduce traffic on Route 1. The issue even flared up briefly during the midterms, when Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes accused his Democratic opponent of using a bike-sharing program to convert Denver into a "United Nations Community."
In the tea partiers’ dystopian vision, the increased density favored by planners to allow for better mass transit becomes compulsory "human habitation zones."

Agenda 21 paranoia has swept the tea party scene, driving activists around the country to delve into the minutiae of local governance. And now that the midterm elections are over, they're descending on planning meetings and transit debates, wielding PowerPoints about Agenda 21, and generally freaking out low-level bureaucrats with accusations about their roles in a supposed international conspiracy.

.............

The scene in Maine is repeating itself across the country. Only sometimes the activists are less polite. One planning consultant I spoke with, who requested anonymity, recalled a recent meeting where he was on the receiving end of tea party rage. "I got called a communist," he says. Someone in another tea party-heavy area recently told him, "We don't need none of that smart growth communism." The people he's been encountering are new to the process, short on solid facts, and many are "spitting mad." Combined with what they see as an "elitist" bent in planning consultants, he says, it makes for a toxic and intimidating mix for local officials who aren't used to being accosted by conspiracy theory wielding activists.

more:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/tea-party-agenda-21-un-sustainable-development

[laughingliberal]

1. *Sigh* nt

[LeftinOH]

2. They'd rather allow free market property developers to design their communities

-which has already happened.

[Blue_Tires]

3. How in fuck's name do these people even remember to breathe?

Sorry, I forgot: Under NO circumstances are we to ever call out the Tea Partiers for being brain dead, pliable, politically schizophrenic, racist lunatics...They are a legitimate grassroots voting force with honest blue-collar concerns about the economy and the well-being of all freedom-loving Americans:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :nuke:

[glitch]

4. Demonstrating again that one of the ways a species becomes extinct is from within.

Perhaps the major way.

[drm604]

5. What can I even say about this nonsense.

A smiley says it all: :banghead:

[Javaman]

6. The Contrary Party strikes again...

their homes are covered with their noses.

[SteveM]

7. There is no opposition. nt