Under the watchful eyes

“It is better for people not to learn too much about how laws and sausages are made” Otto von Bismarck

In March there was held the 29th annual conference sponsored by the United Nations. Called COP29 the conference was attended by over 50,000 unelected representatives from almost 200 countries, gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference goal was to fashion a plan to fund climate control in the so-called developing nations.

The conference participants formulated a policy to transfer wealth from prosperous nations to poorer nations. The estimated annual cost by the year 2035 will be as much as $300 billion. The purpose of the transfer of money is to fund the development of green energy sources and to allow the poorer nations to cope with the higher cost and to help them mitigate the cost of “climate change.”

The conference participants were mostly unelected. They mostly represented energy companies and have no power to enforce the recommendations made at the conference. Interestingly, the site of the conference, the nation of Azerbaijan, is one of the nations engaged in large scale production of petrochemical energy sources.

No estimate was made of the amount of energy required to transport over 50,000 delegates to Azerbaijan. They would require a very large number of airplanes, all burning petrochemical fuels.

Think of the cost to soothe the consciences of people who want to tell us how much energy and what kind of energy we will be allowed to consume. The delegates to COP29 very likely will not be personally affected by the increasing cost of energy these plans will require.

Oh, the irony! All that energy used to decry the use of energy by John Q. Public – that is you and me!

On another topic, our nation has seen an amazing increase in shoplifting. It is not very hard to understand the increase when we look at the changes to (or intentional disregard for) the laws designed to protect merchants from this crime. In many cities and states the crime of shoplifting is no longer prosecuted if the value of the items stolen is less than $1,000. Think about that for a moment. Inspired by “woke” policies, local prosecutors, often without legal sanction, have decided to allow shoplifters to steal over $900 worth of goods, without fear of prosecution.

We see organized groups of people (we are not allowed to call them criminals) break into stores, destroy display cases and remove hundreds of dollars’ worth of goods – without fear of punishment. Even though the activity is captured on security cameras in the place being vandalized. It is not surprising that many stores across the nation are being closed because of this activity.

There you have it.

In Baku, Azerbaijan, thousands of unelected people gather to redistribute wealth among nations. The United Nations is supervising the establishment of a system to re-distribute wealth, using the unproven allegation of “climate change,” the so-called rich nations will somehow or other be required to provide enough money to allow poorer nations to use high priced “green” energy.

In many cities in the United States, we have unofficially changed the laws regarding the sanctity of private property. This is so that criminals can, without fear of penalty, take by force the property of others.

German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was only half right. In one case, laws regarding energy production, usage and costs and the laws regarding the sanctity of private property, are often left to the discretion of local prosecutors and judges. If the people become aware of this, responsible citizens are sure to object. Or can we?

On the other hand, we should be satisfied to know that the production of sausage is done under the watchful eyes of federal meat inspectors. Or can we?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Happy New Year!

Mike Lang, Chairman, Union County Republican Central Committee