Radical Environmentalism Revealed: Ending Sovereignty and Private Property

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Scratch a radical environmentalist, find a radical, full stop. Case in point: Boston Globe columnist James Carroll. In his New thinking to save the earth [is that all?], Carroll calls for nothing less than the end of the United States as we know it, and a yours-is-mine socialism.

Carroll claims that "if the earth is to survive as a human habitat," the meaning of four subjects "must be transformed." Among the things Carroll wants to redefine are "nation" and "property." Ominous enough, but getting down into the details is even more chilling.

Nation: A 19th-century notion of national sovereignty allows sub groups to pursue agendas without regard for their effects on the whole. But this wrongly assumes that the health of the whole is a matter of indifference to the group. The United States has long refused to temper its claim to radical independence from all other nations, but that both defines the source of America's disproportionate ecological destructiveness and impedes every effort to mitigate it. There will be no stopping environmental degradation until nations stop thinking of independent sovereignty as an absolute. Climate change respects no borders.

Consider the condescension. Those benighted people who believe in the notion of the USA are hopelessly stuck in the 1800s, unlike the enlightened Carroll and his green fellow travelers. That "claim to radical independence"? Most of us would simply call it independence and sovereignty. And the implication of his statement that climate change respects no borders is clear: we shouldn't either.

Property: In America, where full citizenship was originally granted only to property owners, we are what we have. The pursuit of happiness equals the accumulation of possessions. This cult of "more" drives an economy that defines its health by growth, its market by the globe. In families, the success of a second generation is defined only by its surpassing in affluence the first. This merciless consumption divides people into "haves," "the have less," and "have nots," but it also eats the environment alive. Sufficiency, simplicity, and a sense that the treasures of the earth are the property of all people must become notes of the new America.

Carroll makes Americans out to be little more than cargo cultists. As for success being defined only in terms of affluence, says who? America is filled with people who in their professional and/or private lives devote themselves to helping others. And his line about "the treasures of the earth" being "the property of all people," is nothing less than unreconstructed Marxism.

Thanks go to Carroll for his candor. He confirms what so many have suspected: that radical environmentalism is little more than a cloak for socialism and not mere anti-Americanism but quite literally the abolition of the United States of America.

Finkelstein lives in Ithaca, NY, currently in the grip of a heavy snow storm. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net

[DugwayDuke]

One of the reason the communists have become environmentalists was that they either had to admit communism theory was wrong or come up with a reason why communism lost to capitalism. The theory they settled on was this.

According to classic communist theory, capitalism would result in a downward and endless spiral of living standards until the masses revolted. Didn’t happen. The ‘masses’ under captialism lived far better than those under communism. The communists developed the theory that the capitalists exploitation of the environment allowed them to subsidize the living standard avoiding the downward spiral. According to this theory, the communists only have to become environmentalists preventing the exploitation to subsidize the living standards of the ‘masses’ and the resulting downward spiral will result in the revolt and the world wide institution of communism. IOW, the enviro-communists do want to lower the living standards of everyone to incite a revolt placing themselves in power.

Of course, the big problem with this theory is the environmental record of the Soviet Union. Of course, the communist response is that the Soviet Union wasn’t really communist.

[SteamShovel]

In America, where full citizenship was originally granted only to property owners, we are what we have. The pursuit of happiness equals the accumulation of possessions. This cult of "more" drives an economy that defines its health by growth, its market by the globe.

Let me see you give it all up for the cause while you are still alive and need food and shelter. This guy is a piece of work.

I think it is good these things are coming out in the open. It exposes motives and shows fence sitters what life could be like under the ECO-FACISTS. I pray this movement peaks and dies before the '08 election.

[Paperdoll]

In my state you need a permit to prune your trees! You are forbidden to catch rainwater for any reason. (My grandmother used to keep a rain barrel so she could wash her hair in the soft water.) Taxes are so high that you are really just renting your free and clear home from the county! If you sell income property after many years of paying taxes, the state collects horrendous capitol gains, and the feds REALLY ream your profit! So much for private property in America.

[Paperdoll]

>Global warming is right out of the Clinton playbook. Al Gore and his merry band of global socialists learned well.<

You mean Al Gore-bachev?

[Paperdoll]

Never in the history of the world has a system brought so much wealth and opportunity to anyone able and willing to work for it as ours. We have been very blessed. But people became so intent on gaining more and more they forgot to protect the country from slowly being taken over by an element dedicated to its destruction.
Something over fifty years ago, the ACLU, People for the American Way, and the NEA, etal would not have been permitted to exist. Life was good. Taxes were low. Allegiance to the Flag began each school day. A dollar was a dollar - not a nickel. Abortion was a crime. Marriages lasted because vows were kept. Mothers stayed home to raise the children. Schools were locally controlled, and PTA meetings were well attended.
At last Americans are beginning to wake up to find the country changed, with many freedoms lost, and, in many cases, life much harder than it used to be. I hope it is not too late!