Land rights and issues
Meet the International Democrat Union
by Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Not
many Americans, particularly conservative Republicans, have heard of the
International Democrat Union (IDU), but most would be very surprised to learn
the names of its membership and its true goals.
Formed
in 1983, the IDU says it’s a “working association of over 80
Conservative, Christian Democrat and like minded political parties of centre
and centre right.” Some of
the political party members of the IDU include the German Christian Social Union;
British Conservative Party; Norway Conservative Party – and the U.S. Republican Party.
In
the IDU’s 2005 Declaration, issued after a
recent meeting in Washington, D.C., it stated “Our common goal is of free, just and compassionate societies. We
appreciate the value of tradition and inherited wisdom. We value freely elected
governments, the market-based economy and liberty for our citizens. We will
protect our people from those who preach hate and plan to destroy our way of
life. Free enterprise, free trade and private property are the corner stones of
free ideas and creativity as well as material well-being. We believe in
justice, with an independent judiciary. We believe in democracy, in limited
government and a strong civic society.”
Such
a statement gives one the impression that the IDU is on a mission to spread the
ideals of the American Revolution around the globe. Here, at last might be an
international organization that brings the good news of our own Declaration of
Independence to the far corners of the oppressed world. No other document on
earth more strongly declares the principles of liberty that made the United
States the guiding light of the world. With the Republican Party as an active
member, it would certainly be expected that American documents and principles
would be the basis of policy for an international organization that declares it
promotes “free enterprise, free trade and
private property.”
But a careful look at the IDU’s founding
Declaration of Principles reveals a very different message. The second
Paragraph of the IDU Declaration states: “Being
committed to advancing the social and political values on which democratic
societies are founded, including the basic personal freedoms and human rights,
as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
” That, of
course, is the United Nation’s
Declaration of Human Rights that the IDU document is promoting.
There are two conflicting philosophies of governing in the world.
One, the American view, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, states
that all people have rights they are born with and that government’s only job is to protect those rights
at all costs. The Declaration says that these rights are forever and
unquestioned. It is the foundation for human freedom. The other says that
government decides the rights we should have, professing that all such rights
give way to an undefined, common good whenever the situation is warranted. That
means that all so called rights are subject to the whim of whatever gang is currently
in power at the time, making the definitions of what constitutes the “common good.”
As an example of how this second philosophy works in practice, the
Constitution of the Soviet Union said that Soviet citizens had most of the same
rights as Americans, except it also said individual rights were secondary to
the common good. In the case of the Soviet Union, the common good was defined
as creating a worldwide communist utopia.
The UN’s
Declaration of Human Rights takes this second approach, outlining specific
rights it says we should all have. It says nothing of unalienable rights and
refers to the “rights under the law.” Who or what is the law, according to
the Declaration? It says “the will
of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.” Now, at first look, that sounds like
America. Democracy. People voting - the end of dictatorship. But such a concept ignores the very
root of American freedom –
that our rights are guaranteed, no matter what the majority thinks.
Suppose the majority of people vote to abolish your business or
take your home? This is called majority rule and is another form of
dictatorship. It’s what led
to the ravages of the guillotine in revolutionary France. It’s rule by fear; fear of the wrong
gang changing the rules; fear of standing against the crowd. Majority rule is
simply a lynch mob – or
more graphically, three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for
lunch.
This is the root of the philosophy entrenched in the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights. It is
the root of the political policy behind Sustainable Development and the Supreme
Court’s Kelo Decision on Eminent Domain. It’s the philosophy that says the common
good needs to be served. Hang individual rights. Personal wants and needs must
give way to the whims of the crowd in charge.
Now this destructive philosophy is entrenched and being passed off
as freedom by the International Democrat Union, an international organization
that dares pretend to speak for those of us who advocate limited government and
human liberty. The IDU’s
documents are filled with rhetoric about compassion. Does it show compassion to
support a policy that says no one’s property
is safe from confiscation?
The root of the IDU’s
political agenda is Fabian Socialism which wants to blur national borders and
cultures, eliminate private property and individual liberty in favor of the
common good. The Fabians consider themselves to be a ruling elite that knows
better than individuals how to run our lives. Their way is: Heads, government
wins. Tails, citizens lose. It is the worst form of tyranny. And this is the
root of the IDU, and by association, apparently the Republican Party. That
answers a lot of questions about recent Republican policy decisions.
Today, we are in a battle between the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights and the
Declaration of Independence. Between Liberty and Tyranny. Freedom Vs Fabian
Socialism. It is no longer a battle between Left and Right, Liberal Vs
Conservative. Many who call themselves Conservative have been greatly troubled
by the policy decisions of the Republican Party and the Bush White House. Perhaps now the reasons for their
confusion will be more clear. The answers lie in the accepted policies of an
international organization that most local and state Republican leaders have
never even heard of – and
major Republican leaders won’t even
acknowledge exists. The IDU’s web
page, by way of proof, is www.idu.org. It exists
Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese Report and president of the American Policy Center, a grassroots, activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia. Its Internet site is www.americanpolicy.org. Tom can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com
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