By Tom DeWeese, guest columnist

America is being transformed. Americans know something is very wrong and are desperately digging for answers. Spending is out of control. Rules and regulations are enforced over every aspect of our lives. Not only can we not build on our private property, but our rivers and streams are becoming off limits; energy prices are skyrocketing as our government refuses to even consider using American energy reserves that are locked away, apparently forever. American jobs are disappearing oversees. Our money is growing more worthless every day and taxes are going up on everything we buy, eat, drive, or wear. Schools don’t teach. healthcare isn’t about health. Investments translate to bankruptcy. And Social Security isn’t secure.

We just held an election demanding that the run-away federal budget and government intrusion be reigned in. But after a lot of fast maneuvering, hot rhetoric and back slapping, basically nothing was cut. how can all of this happen before our very eyes, in broad daylight, against our will? Bottom line – politicians at all levels have found a way to ignore the American people while accomplishing the greatest transformation in American history.

How indeed? Alert political activists may have noticed a major change in the way government and public policy has been run for the past couple of decades. That change is the key to how we are being outmaneuvered – right before our eyes. There are many names for the tactic: Group Manipulation; Consensus; Facilitation. Psychologically- Controlled Environments; Scientific Coercion. It all means the same thing; professional manipulators are being employed to control pubic meetings through a pre- determined outcome, and they are trained to lead you straight to that result and even make you think it was your idea.

If you’ve been to a public meeting lately, you will see the meeting is run by a man or woman who is not really part of the group in an “official” capacity. They are called “facilitator.” his/her job is to bring the group to “consensus,” which means there is not to be debate or disagreement. The policy or project or program on the table is not discussed in detail so that the group can judge the item on its merits and vote on it. In fact, if you begin to question the policy, or ask who the facilitator represents, or in general show signs of disagreement, the facilitator quickly loses his/her charm and begins to describe you to the group as “uncooperative” or a troublemaker who is wasting the group’s time. There is never a vote on the issue. Instead, the group somehow reaches “consensus.”

The average activist or concerned citizen doesn’t have a chance to debate merits of the program. A property owner is viewed as selfish and unenlightened to bring up how a policy might affect his/her property. And if the facilitator is good at his job, and they usually are highly paid to be good, then it won’t matter how many protesters manage to turn out. It doesn’t matter how much pressure has been brought to bear in letters to the editor. The facilitator brings his group home to the predetermined outcome, the policy becomes law. Government grows, freedoms are lost.

Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence.

 

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