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Labor Sec. Chao Warns, NGOs Up To No Good 1/29/04 U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao told attendees to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Arlington, VA., that non-government organizations should "be at the top of every conservative's watch list." She said that NGOs are working behind the scenes with multi-lateral organizations and left-wing liberal groups within the U.S. to influence global public opinion in international law, standards and practices. Secretary Chao said it is apparent the goal is to undermine U.S. sovereignty and force the United States to dance to the tune of an international ruling body, for example, the United Nations. Finally, a top political official exposes the truth. RELATED STORY: Chao warns of dangers to U.S. from NGOs Speaking to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Chao delineated the growing relationship between NGOs and multi-lateral organizations and the way that relationship helps undermine U.S. law. The NGOs, she told the audience, "are undermining the achievements that your advocacy here has won.:p> "There is nothing inherently wrong with non-governmental advocacy," Chao was careful to say, citing Alexis de Toqueville's pioneering study of a young United States. "It is one of the cornerstones of U.S. democracy." Nevertheless, she continued, NGOs are increasingly active in their attempts to influence U.S. public policy, often making common cause with liberal groups in the United States. "NGO and multi-lateral organizations are becoming key players in global public opinion and global standard setting. They are patiently laying the groundwork in international law, standards and practices that the United States will one day be pressured to adopt," she said, adding that they were all too often exposed to just one side of any particular argument. "We must constructively engage these organizations if we are
to win the worldwide battle of ideas," she said.
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