The Barr Code by Bob Barr
The United Nations has long been an institution of little true value; serving largely to spread statist ideals around the world, and which purports to act as the arbitrator of legitimacy in international affairs, despite its many scandals and failures. It is hard to foresee a scenario that would increase the worthlessness of this organization, but a recent proposal may do just that.
Bolivia, led by leftist President Evo Morales, and other socialist nations are pushing a treaty that would afford “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans. This proposal actually will be seriously considered by the UN; which two years ago encouraged such nonsense by passing a resolution establishing April 22nd as “International Mother Earth Day.”
According to an article at Canada.com, the treaty would give the Earth “a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities; and the right to be free from pollution.”
Morales’ obsession with “Mother Earth” apparently stems also from a belief held by the Aymara, a native ethnic group in Bolivia – a heritage he claims. In fact, the South American country is currently pushing through a domestic law, called the “Law of the Rights of Mother Earth,” which gives those rights to insects and trees. Ecuador has joined this bizarre movement by enacting a similar law and incorporating it in its Constitution.
The US-based Pachamama Alliance, which boasts controversial former Obama Administration official Van Jones on its board and is headquartered in San Francisco, is one of the organizations responsible for pushing this initiative through the Global Alliance for the Right of Nature (GARN). According to its website, the movement behind this treaty is, “about balancing what is good for human beings against what is good for other species, what is good for the planet as a world. It is the holistic recognition that all life, all ecosystems on our planet are deeply intertwined.” The movement, in true collectivist fashion, denigrates the basis of economic liberty by claiming that laws recognizing property rights “actually legalize environmental harm.”
“Green” proposals such as this one frequently are offered in the context of harmless, feel-good rhetoric; stressing that well-meaning individuals or countries are simply trying to encourage conservation and bring recognition to global warming. But as Christopher Horner, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism, notes, proposals such as this may sound well-intentioned and appear “green on the outside,” but in reality are “red to the core.” Morales has closely aligned himself with dictators like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Castro even penned a letter encouraging Morales to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for enacting socialist policies. The Bolivian leader’s true agenda was made clear when he stated that the “central enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism.”
Of course, this is just the latest in the outright bizarre views that have become common fodder for many environmentalists; including some who call for extreme population control measures, such as a worldwide one-child policy. These are the same people who admire dictators and mass murderers like Che Guevara and Castro. However, as Michael Prell notes in The Hill, “[t]hese anti-human humans make an important distinction: they do not think that all life should be reduced on Planet Earth, just the lives of Earth’s most powerful creatures—human beings. Why? So that less powerful life forms, like plants, animals and even ‘killer viruses’ might thrive.”
There is no question we need to protect our environment and guard against pollution. However, this can be accomplished through reasonable measures consistent with free-market principles; and without enacting downright silly treaties or costly, job-killing legislation.
If the UN proceeds with this “Mother Earth” absurdity, it will be simply another notch on its all too familiar, anti-capitalist and anti-American agenda.
by Bob Barr — The Barr Code
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