One prop of progressivism that people tend to overlook is the increasing power of NGOs (non-governmental organizations). These private (but often taxpayer-subsidized) advocacy groups are elected by no one, answer to no one, are accountable to no one. Yet they are becoming increasingly influential, especially through their congressional lobbying and the courts.
Case in point? The Center for Food Safety got a federal judge to revoke the Dept. of Agriculture’s approval of modified sugar beets – which account for 95% of the entire beet crop, and 50% of the nation’s sugar.
And what is the Center for Food Safety? A junk-science outfit that opposes modern technology in food production. Its Executive Director is Andrew Kimbrell, an anti-business crank, who is one of the beneficiaries of the largesse of Douglas Tompkins, a tycoon who made his pile in the clothes business, sold out and decided (as, unfortunately, many rich people do) to “make a difference” (there’s some good background on these guys at Activist Cash).
I see the impact of NGOs at my federal agency, too; for example, many are heavily involved in attempting to shut down coal-fired power plants and divert resources to favored (but inefficient or untested) “renewable energy” projects.
The extent to which many policies are, in effect, being created by unelected advocacy groups is appalling. This is an area where we really need more transparency.
(Big H/T to Overlawyered)
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What I would like to know is how to get rid of the stupid federal judges that issue edicts like this.
ReplyDeleteActivist federal judges swayed by activist organizations have wrought destruction after destruction, nationally, and worldwide. Case in point, the California central valley, the breadbasket, has been reduced to a desert in order to preseve a non-native bait fish the size of your index finger. Lost farms, lost jobs, lost revenue (millions), etc., and now there is a second round of water cuts coming.
ReplyDeleteThe Thompkinses and their ilk are truly frightening by making efforts that "emphasizes the relative worthlessness of human life, ...as no more important than that of plants or animals"..."considers human beings as a mere “interference” with nature, and openly aims for a “decrease of the human population.”" This is the same thought process that gave us fear of carbon/CO2, and History channel specials about life after people.
We need to stop our federal tax dollars going to folks like these. But how?
Deborah Leigh
How?
ReplyDelete11/02/10
Term limits to break the perptual power structure.
Friendly agencies like the EPA also feed these creeps inside information so they can sue and use that as a source of revenue and growth.
We can also used the favored tool of the left and stop calling these non-profits. Keep referring to them as for-profits and it will stick. This is their sole source of income and therefore they profit by being there. Change the narrative and put them on the defensive.
But...but...they could set off a MUTANT SUGAR-BEET APOCALYPSE!
ReplyDeleteI for one don't care to be enslaved by vegetables, no matter how sweet!
Disappointed to see Anuradha Mittal, a young Indian woman, is one of the loonies who want millions to starve. Like old Vandan Shiva. Very frustrated how Indians grab the wrong end of the burning stick. Of course these are often Brahmins, pampered elites who have never tended a garden let alone know how to grow food, and their resort to Marxist 'scripture' is ingrained.
ReplyDelete****
Just voted (9am here, voting day) in Australia's Fed election. For Tony Abbott - pretty much John Howard's successor. Conservative Catholic (but moderate), all round nice guy, like an Aussie beach life-saver with brains.
So the leftists surround the polling station with dozens of metre-high grotesque pix of Tony in which he looks like a monkey. Classy. They used to do the same to John Howard. Leftists, grrrr.
Wow! Stock up on Coca-Cola now!
ReplyDeleteBravo to Paco for reminding us of the NGO danger [I am one of those who often forgets about it — forgive me, Father Paco, for I have sinned]
ReplyDeleteQuoted from and Linked to at:
The People Under the Stairs