Nationwide strike for liberty called

Truckers will pull their rigs to the side of the road for an hour or more. Farmers will drive their tractors to local rallies or — like the truckers — park at the side of the road. Other drivers — wearing red, white and blue armbands — will keep their headlights on. Radio talk-show hosts will play the Star-Spangled Banner — a signal for Americans to flood Capitol Hill and the White House with phone calls, faxes and letters to protest the signing of the United Nations Climate Change Protocol in Kyoto, Japan.

At least that’s the hope and expectation of Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center (http://www.americanpolicy.org), who is calling a grass-roots nationwide Strike for Liberty next Friday, Dec. 5.

“It’s a simple — but not humble — plan,” DeWeese explains. “If Bill Clinton and his social-planning buddies want to shut down the United States of America, which is what this treaty will do — then I propose that for one hour, we help him shut down the nation.”

According to the administration, the treaty and its legally binding mandates are needed to stop “greenhouse gases” that environmentalists say cause “global warming.” The protocol would require signing nations to cut back their energy emissions to 15 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2010 — a goal which can be met only by rationing fuel, or increasing the price drastically through taxes. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates costs would increase gas prices 26 to 52 cents per gallon and increase electric bills 24 to 48 percent.

Opponents of the protocol say it would allow the U.N. to dictate the amount of energy America could use, affecting 1.8 million jobs, with industries moving to Mexico, China and other Third World countries not bound by the limits placed on the U.S. All — they maintain — to confront a problem that doesn’t even exist.

“There’s no evidence whatsoever to support the claims made to justify the treaty requirements,” says DeWeese. “The bottom line is, there is no credible scientific evidence or findings of global warming. Yet the administration is bombarding the airwaves saying we have to support the treaty against this supposed threat. (Interior Secretary Bruce) Babbitt has said it’s ‘un-American’ to be against it.”

According to DeWeese, to counter the administration’s propaganda assault, Strike for Liberty activities are planned for 27 states to date — all spontaneous.

“We’re not telling anyone what they should do — but we’re urging Americans to do something,” he said. “I’m getting indications that this is developing into something really big.”

For example:

• A city-wide series of mini-rallies is planned for Phoenix.
• In Florida, people will be lined up for miles along Route 41, all waving signs.
• Truckers are playing a tape about global warming and how to stop the protocol over their CBs and passing out literature.
• Radio talk-show hosts are playing the tape and urging listeners to contact Washington officials.

DeWeese admits he’s disappointed by the lack of support from some conservative groups and industry — even those who deplore the treaty. But he believes the grass-roots activists are responding to the call.

But the main target of the strike is not solely Clinton. The U.S. Senate must still ratify the treaty for it to take effect.

“Our main purpose is to send the Senate a message: that they must simply say no,” says DeWeese. “Not only to the treaty, but to the policies within it which Clinton has said are the policies of his administration.”