From the December 2009 Idaho Observer:

Meet The International Democrat Union

by Tom DeWeese

Not many Americans, particularly conservative Republicans, have heard of the International Democrat Union (IDU), but most would be very surprised to learn the names of its membership and its true goals.

Formed in 1983, the IDU says it’s a “working association of over 80 Conservative, Christian Democrat and like minded political parties of centre and centre right.” Some of the political party members of the IDU include the German Christian Social Union; British Conservative Party; Norway Conservative Party -- and the U.S. Republican Party.

In the IDU’s 2005 Declaration, issued after a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., it stated:

Our common goal is of free, just and compassionate societies. We appreciate the value of tradition and inherited wisdom. We value freely elected governments, the market-based economy and liberty for our citizens. We will protect our people from those who preach hate and plan to destroy our way of life. Free enterprise, free trade and private property are the corner stones of free ideas and creativity as well as material well-being. We believe in justice, with an independent judiciary. We believe in democracy, in limited government and a strong civic society.

Such a statement gives one the impression that the IDU is on a mission to spread the ideals of the American Revolution around the globe. Here, at last might be an international organization that brings the good news of our own Declaration of Independence to the far corners of the oppressed world. No other document on earth more strongly declares the principles of liberty that made the United States the guiding light of the world. With the Republican Party as an active member, it would certainly be expected that American documents and principles would be the basis of policy for an international organization that declares it promotes “free enterprise, free trade and private property.”

But a careful look at the IDU’s founding Declaration of Principles reveals a very different message. The second Paragraph of the IDU Declaration states: “Being committed to advancing the social and political values on which democratic societies are founded, including the basic personal freedoms and human rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights....” That, of course, is the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights that the IDU document is promoting.

There are two conflicting philosophies of governing in the world. One, the American view, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, states that all people have rights they are born with and that government’s only job is to protect those rights at all costs. The Declaration says that these rights are forever and unquestioned. It is the foundation for human freedom. The other says that government decides the rights we should have, professing that all such rights give way to an undefined, common good whenever the situation is warranted. That means that all so called rights are subject to the whim of whatever gang is currently in power at the time, making the definitions of what constitutes the “common good.”

As an example of how this second philosophy works in practice, the Constitution of the Soviet Union said that Soviet citizens had most of the same rights as Americans, except it also said individual rights were secondary to the common good. In the case of the Soviet Union, the common good was defined as creating a worldwide communist utopia. The UN’s Declaration of Human Rights takes this second approach, outlining specific rights it says we should all have. It says nothing of unalienable rights and refers to the “rights under the law.” Who or what is the law, according to the Declaration? It says “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.” Now, at first look, that sounds like America. Democracy. People voting -- the end of dictatorship. But such a concept ignores the very root of American freedom -- that our rights are guaranteed, no matter what the majority thinks.

Suppose the majority of people vote to abolish your business or take your home? This is called majority rule and is another form of dictatorship. It’s what led to the ravages of the guillotine in revolutionary France. It’s rule by fear; fear of the wrong gang changing the rules; fear of standing against the crowd. Majority rule is simply a lynch mob -- or more graphically, three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch. This is the root of the philosophy entrenched in the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights. It is the root of the political policy behind Sustainable Development and the Supreme Court’s Kelo Decision on Eminent Domain. It’s the philosophy that says the common good needs to be served. Hang individual rights. Personal wants and needs must give way to the whims of the crowd in charge. All too often, those folks don’t want anybody but government types to be armed.

Now this destructive philosophy is entrenched and being passed off as freedom by the International Democrat Union, an international organization that dares pretend to speak for those of us who advocate limited government and human liberty. The IDU’s documents are filled with rhetoric about compassion. Does it show compassion to support a policy that says no one’s property is safe from confiscation?

The root of the IDU’s political agenda is Fabian Socialism which wants to blur national borders and cultures, eliminate private property and individual liberty in favor of the common good. The Fabians consider themselves to be a ruling elite that knows better than individuals how to run our lives. Their way is: Heads, government wins. Tails, citizens lose. It is the worst form of tyranny. And this is the root of the IDU, and by association, apparently the Republican Party. That answers a lot of questions about recent Republican policy decisions.

Today, we are in a battle between the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Between Liberty and Tyranny. Freedom Vs Fabian Socialism. It is no longer a battle between Left and Right, Liberal Vs Conservative. Many who call themselves Conservative have been greatly troubled by the policy decisions of the Republican Party and the Bush White House. Perhaps now the reasons for their confusion will be more clear. The answers lie in the accepted policies of an international organization that most local and state Republican leaders have never even heard of -- and major Republican leaders won’t even acknowledge exists. The IDU’s web page, by way of proof, is http://www.idu.org -- it exists.

Tom DeWeese is the editor of the DeWeese Report. (www.freedom21.com)