The plan for megaregions appears to be rather old news; however, it seems a good time to mention them again, lest we forget. According to Wikipedia:
Megaregions of the United States are clustered networks of American cities whose population ranges or is projected to range from about 7 to 63 million by the year 2025. America 2050, an organization sponsored by the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, lists 11 megaregions in the United States and Canada. Megapolitan areas were explored in a July 2005 report by Robert E. Lang and Dawn Dhavale of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. A later 2007 article by Lang and Nelson uses 20 megapolitan areas grouped into 10 megaregions. The concept is based on the original Megalopolis model.
According to the website america2050.org:
As metropolitan regions continued to expand throughout the second half of the 20th century their boundaries began to blur, creating a new scale of geography now known as the megaregion. Interlocking economic systems, shared natural resources and ecosystems, and common transportation systems link these population centers together. As continued population growth and low density settlement patterns place increasing pressure on these systems, there is greater impetus to coordinate policy at this expanded scale.
“Low density settlement patterns place increasing pressure” on economic systems, natural resources, and ecosystems. In other words, rural and suburban areas are ruining the planet. This is related to yesterday’s post on the encroachment of Agenda 21, in which I pointed out the government’s plan to force everyone to live in urban areas.
The America 2050 website is the project of the RPA, the Regional Plan Association, which is the group promoting Agenda 21 in New York City. Its interests are
- Economic Development
- Parks and Environment
- Transportation and Infrastructure
- Sustainable Communities
Do these sound familiar? The president often speaks of these things. How about all those high-speed rail systems they’re always planning to build even though most cities don’t want them? These interests represent the U.N.’s Agenda 21. As I said yesterday, check out the webpages for communities near you and it’s likely you’ll find their buzzwords. Agenda 21 is everywhere and it always sounds lovely – new bike paths, more trees. What could be wrong with that?
America 2050 is partnered with Transportation for America, whose website states, “America needs transportation solutions.” Really? It seems to me that most of us are perfectly happy driving around in our own vehicles. From the website:
We need our nation’s leaders to invest in public transportation, high-speed passenger rail, streets safe for biking and walking, and green innovation. We need leaders with a plan to strengthen our economy, create jobs, reduce our dependence on oil, and make it easier for Americans to find the money to meet their growing transportation needs.
In the melodrama that is presented to us as American politics, this is the agenda of the left-wing. Transportation for America is a lobby group and it is currently targeting Rand Paul. (So is Chris Christie. Is that a coincidence?) Why don’t they target the president? For all his talk about our crumbling infrastructure, not much has been done about it. What are they really doing with all the money earmarked for bridge and road repairs?
Anyway, there is a community of bloggers promoting Agenda 21 called Streetsblog:
Since 2006, Streetsblog has covered the movement to transform our cities by reducing dependence on private automobiles and improving conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders. Our reporters have broken important stories about transit funding, pedestrian safety, and bicycle policy from day one. And our writing makes arcane topics like parking prices and induced traffic accessible to a broad audience.
Can we call this what it is: Propaganda? They, and others, make Agenda 21 sound like Utopia: bicyclists on tree-lined streets carrying baskets of fresh flowers, tossing petals in the paths of those making their way to mass transit stations. (Ever seen Nazi propaganda?) Is this the dream of a new generation of flower children or old 1960s hippies?
Agenda 21 isn’t just happening in the U.S. From the America 2050 website:
Our competitors in Asia and Europe are creating Global Integration Zones by linking specialized economic functions across vast geographic areas and national boundaries with high-speed rail and separated goods movement systems. The increased mobility of workers, business travelers, information, and goods between the networked cities of these megaregions enables greater collaboration, flexibility, and innovation. Efficient mobility is also a competitive advantage in the global playing field, where value is created by time savings.
In other words, we need to do the same to be competitive. It reveals the global nature of “their” Agenda.
The next paragraph is interesting. It reminds me of driving the Interstate through Houston, Texas last year. If I remember correctly, it took over an hour, even though there was little traffic and we never drove below the speed limit. There were also more intertwining overpasses than I’ve seen elsewhere. They were everywhere.
The recognition of the megaregion as an emerging geographical unit also presents an opportunity to reshape large federal systems of infrastructure and funding, such as future surface transportation bills, the reorganization of Amtrak, housing and urban development authorizations, and farm policy. Just as the Interstate Highway System enabled the growth of metropolitan regions during the second half of the 20th century, emerging megaregions will require new transportation modes that work for places 200-500 miles across. The key new links in this mobility system are likely to be High-Speed Rail (HSR) lines, which are uniquely suited to trips of this length.
Has Houston already become a megalopolis? It’s important to watch states that have seemingly conservative leadership. Perhaps I should restate that as watch states that have been run by members of the Bush family.
Side journey (or is it?):
Florida was one of the first states to implement the REAL ID Act. From Wikipedia:
For the 2012 Florida Legislative Session, an anti-REAL ID bill, HB 109 and Senate companion S 220 will be heard. Named the Florida Driver’s License Citizen Protection Act, it would require discontinuation of several of the federally-mandated provisions of REAL ID and destruction of citizen’s documents that had been scanned into the government database. That bill died in Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee, on March 9, 2012.
And how about the NAFTA Superhighway with its Trans Texas Corridor? This highway has been labeled a conspiracy theory; however, websites of major cities discuss their plans for building it. It’s actually Interstate-69. You can read about its progress in Michigan:
Kentucky:
to name just two. So much for it being a conspiracy theory.
In my opinion, the Bush brothers implemented plans behind the scenes in Florida and Texas that were designed to come to fruition after they were out of office.
Back to America’s megaregions. Here is a map of the plan:
Here’s a map of the proposed high-speed rail system:
Are we expected to bicycle to one of their train stations? Oh, no. Now I remember. We’ll all be living right near one. I don’t know about you, but I hate big cities and crowds and have only used public transportation a handful of times in my entire life.
The America 2050 website has other maps, including their plans for freight networks, Google’s map of the megaregions (imagine Google mapping the global elite’s plans), and more. It’s worth a look to see what “they” have planned for us.
It’s interesting that “they” are not quite so secretive as many presume, as most of their plans are available on the Internet. Unfortunately, most people just aren’t interested. Is it “they” that label their plans “conspiracy theories”? Or is that done by people who can’t handle the truth of what’s being planned for us? Unfortunately, those with their heads in the sand may be the people who most need some forewarning.
What will life be like in a megalopolis? See Calhoun’s experiment on the effects of overpopulation on rodents:
The conclusions drawn from this experiment were that when all available space is taken and all social roles filled, competition and the stresses experienced by the individuals will result in a total breakdown in complex social behaviors, ultimately resulting in the demise of the population.
In the eyes of the global elite, we are the rodents.
Finally, here is a video of one couple’s thoughts on Agenda 21 in Austin, Texas:
Tin Foil Hat Time 