Sovereignty

The local yokels want to push a "coordination" agenda here in the county which is a new/old strategy with roots in the Sagebrush rebellion. Self-styled patriots believe there are encroaching powers trying to impinge on their rights. Many go in for the whole Agenda 21 United Nations New World Order conspiracy and others just think it's Obama. Coordination legislation has been devised by ALEC, the corporate funded think tank, in the hopes of taking Federal agencies out of decisions regarding natural resource development or regulation of pollution and land use. Basically, Capital wanting to have an unobstructed path to profits. These local folks get worked up about their water rights or property rights and it mushrooms from there into these fantabulous conspiracies. The funny thing is, from the progressive side of the "political" spectrum you have groups like We The People and folks like Paul Cienfuegos pushing for local "Bill of Rights" or ordinances to put citizen sovereignty ahead of corporations. So where the right wing wants local government sovereignty to trump national( public over public), the progressives want public over private. Of course the language in the ALEC legislation just begs for costly litigation so these right wingers can spend all their hated tax revenue losing a court battle with the Feds. Much of the "thinking" on these kinds of Patriot efforts comes out of Idaho so...there's that. From a psychological perspective, so much fear and extremism springs from ignorance but the crisis of legitimation is very real to them and works to de-stabilize the center.