Mr. Ciliberti’s infatuation with far-right “Agenda 21” conspiracy theories is not about me, as he inferred in his diatribe. But since he mentioned my name, I’ll take him up on it. First, let me thank him for providing another opportunity to shed light on how his Freeman–style views, which were never taken seriously in the 80s and 90s, have now been mainstreamed to the point where public discussion has fallen down into an Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit hole. It’s an embarrassment that we even have to have these discussions in public with our planning board (on which Mr. Ciliberti sits) and with our commissioners. They do us a disservice by wasting our time and resources on nonsense like Agenda 21 “conspiracies” and “Coordination.”
Mr. Ciliberti accused me of “attacking one’s opponent rather than dealing with the subject under discussion” (his words). But the “subject under discussion” that he and our commission insist on abusing us with is exactly about “attacking one’s opponent.” The planning board brought in a guest speaker who used county time to “educate” us about how Agenda 21 – a toothless U.N. document – is really a blueprint for a communist takeover, using environmentalism as a “tool” to promote such treasonous evils as wilderness and zoning regulations, that anyone who advocates for clean air and water is in reality part of an international Stalinist conspiracy to forcibly relocate Montanans to Seattle.
I guess our commissioners (and Mr. Ciliberti) feel they can use public forums to accuse citizens of nefarious intent with impunity and in fact, if no one calls them on it, they can. But sorry to say for those who confuse talking out of both sides of their mouths with “seeing both sides,” if you guys continue to try and mainstream far-right conspiracy theories down the public’s throat, you’re gonna hear back—civilly but forcefully. Your behavior is inappropriate. In fact, we’ll take an apology.
Bill LaCroix
Victor