John Birch Society Goes Soft; Scolds La Verkin Over Ban On U.N. Activities
Saturday, July 21, 2001
BY GREG BURTON
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
La Verkin's small-town revolt against the United Nations is "hopelessly flawed," John Birch Society chief executive G. Vance Smith said Friday.
While the John Birch Society has long advocated a United States withdrawal from the United Nations, the conservative organization has no "connection with the anti-U.N. ordinance" adopted by La Verkin's City Council on July 4, he said.
"But notwithstanding the ludicrous basis on which the La Verkin ordinance is presumably justified," Smith wrote in an e-mail to The Salt Lake Tribune, "the City Council, after proclaiming allegiance to the United States Constitution, proceeds to deny its protections to citizens who might feel differently about the United Nations, or who may be employed by the world body."
Smith's unsolicited comments came in response to a Tribune story that outlined the ideological influence of the John Birch Society on supporters of the U.N.-free zone ordinance, which is also under consideration by the Virgin City Council.
The measure bans aiding the United Nations with town funds and displaying any U.N. symbols on town property, prohibits the "involuntary servitude" of any resident in U.N. peacekeeping activities and forces residents who work with the organization to file annual reports of their activities.
Apparently troubled by a sense of guilt by association, Smith addressed the ordinance at length. He characterized as "nonsense" La Verkin's assertions that the U.N. Charter somehow violates the Declaration of Independence, is an improper treaty and was never ratified by the United States.
"The tactic of establishing so-called U.N.-free zones is contrary to the programs and principles of The John Birch Society," Smith wrote. "It is confrontational, populist in character, and invites more government, more laws, and more enforcement powers -- all of which diminish liberty and make a mockery of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."
The Birch Society, which will not release membership figures, is based in Appleton, Wis., hometown of former Communist fighter Sen. Joe McCarthy. Formed primarily as an anti-Communist organization, membership peaked at about 100,000 in the 1960s but the group's influence has waned since the end of the Cold War.
Smith's rebuke comes two days after Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff advised the La Verkin council and Mayor Dan Howard that the ordinance abridged a number of constitutionally protected rights, including free speech and association.
Joining a growing chorus of critics, Mayor Phillip Bimstein of neighboring Springdale this past week dismissed the entire episode as an "incredible but creepy southern Utah BirchFest." Bimstein hoped to assure the rest of the world that not every town near Zion National Park was buying into a "circus of fear and paranoia."
Criticism, though, has done little to dissuade leaders in La Verkin.
In a letter signed this week, Howard and three council members appeared unwilling to compromise.
"While the council doesn't believe the United Nations poses a direct threat to La Verkin, this political entity fosters a liberal agenda counter to most of the residents living in this rural community," they wrote. "Primarily Republicans, the majority of residents living in southern Utah embrace conservative values, such as family, property rights and the right to bear arms."
In contrast, they continued, "the U.N. supports population control, radical environmentalism including the taking of private property and the disarmament of Americans."
©Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune
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