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Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 10:18 PM UTC

Oklahoma GOPer introduces bill targeting “Agenda 21″

The right continues to tout conspiracy theories about the U.N.'s sustainable development initiative

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Topics: Agenda 21, United Nations, right wing, Oklahoma, Republicans,

Oklahoma GOPer introduces bill targeting (Credit: Wikipedia/Patrick Gruban)

A Republican legislator in Oklahoma is introducing a bill intended to target Agenda 21, a supposed conspiracy by the United Nations to usurp private property rights in America.

From the Tulsa World:

Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said his Senate Bill 23 is based on a bill that was passed by Alabama lawmakers last year and is aimed in part at cutting off state support for the groups pushing limits on property owner rights.

As a farmer, Anderson said he is concerned about the federal government — pushed by the U.N.’s agenda of sustainability –forcing rules on a wide variety of things, including the creation of dust and how land can be used.

“There’s a place for all that, but we also need to make sure we’re not infringing on the property owners’ rights to use their own land,” Anderson said.

Agenda 21 is a nonbinding UN agreement that is aimed at promoting sustainable development — encouraging things like bike trails and mass transit. Or, as Glenn Beck put it in June 2011, “‘sustainable development’ is just a really nice way of saying ‘centralized control over all of human life on planet Earth.’” He added: “Once they put their fangs into our communities, they’ll suck all the blood out of it, and we will not be able to survive. Watch out.”

Tim Murphy of Mother Jones reported on the wave of anti-Agenda 21 legislation sweeping the states:

 In May, the Kansas Legislature approved a resolution blocking Agenda 21 from being implemented in its state, following in the footsteps of Tennessee. Rogers, the Georgia Senate majority leader, introduced legislation in January that would have blocked the nonbinding UN resolution from being applied to his state. Among other things, the resolution noted that, “according to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded by society and the environment which would be accomplished by socialists and communist redistribution of wealth.”

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Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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