ORGANIZED THEFT IN THE NAME OF GOVERNMENT
By Tom DeWeese
Most Americans today tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, stores their belongings, and finds shelter and safety from the elements. It’s where you live. It’s yours because you pay the mortgage and the taxes. Most people don’t give property ownership much more thought than that.
There was a time when property ownership was considered to be much more. Property, and the ability to own and control it, was life itself. The great economist John Locke, whose writings and ideas had a major influence on our nation’s founders, believed that “life and liberty are secure only so long as the right of property is secure.”
John Locke advocated that if property rights did not exist, then the incentive for an industrious person to develop and improve property would be destroyed; that the industrious person would be deprived of the fruits of his labor; that marauding bands would confiscate by force the goods produced by others; and that mankind would be compelled to remain on a bare-subsistence level of hand to mouth survival because the accumulation of anything of value would invite attack.
In short, human civilization would be reduced to the level of a pack of wolves and eventually cease to exist because a lack of control over your own actions would cause fear and insecurity. Private property ownership, Locke argued, brought stability and wealth to individuals, leading to a prosperous society of man.
From the very beginning, the United States was guided by the idea of private property ownership. It was written into our governing documents. Property and freedom – one cannot live without the other. James Madison said, “As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.” John Adams argued, “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
America, be aware, private property is quickly being destroyed across the nation, and note the growing lawlessness beginning to surround you. The fear of climate change has become the excuse for government to grow and dictate how every strip of land will be used.
Have you ever wondered why government now focuses so hard on the environment? That’s because the environment does not recognize political boundaries. The environment crosses rivers, fields, and mountains, all of which cross over national borders, state borders, county borders, city borders, and the boundary lines of your yard! That fact has given massive new power to those forces that seek to change our way of life and system of government. Who can stand in the way with a climate crisis at hand? So goes the argument.
As a result, the pack of wolves is quickly raiding every foot of this nation. Lawlessness controls our society as incentive, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship give way to fear of a government tyranny that drives for control, regardless of clear constitutional rights and the legal system that was designed to protect them.
Step by step, freedom dies, leaving shattered dreams, as tyranny grows.
The Biden cabal issued Executive Order 14008 at the beginning of its hold on America. The order, titled America the Beautiful, established a plan to lock away 30 percent of American land by 2030, under the pretext of protecting the planet. The federal government already has 270 million acres under its control, now under 30×30 it’s driving for another 680 million to be locked away from private use.
Eminent domain land grabs are turning millions of acres of vital farmland over to corporations like Blackrock and Vanguard – to feed their own vision of how human society must function. As more and more farmland disappears under wind turbines and solar panels, which produce next to nothing for our power grid, there’s little room to grow the food we need to survive. As a result, thousands of farmers are forced to just give up.
Other property owners in rural America are facing a new challenge – the elimination of vital dams that have controlled the flow of water, opening new land for productive use. But, says the climate change mantra, those dams aren’t natural, so they are a danger to the environment. They must go. Gone is more private property, a reliable water source, and the individual’s ability to thrive for their own goals.
In our once-vibrant cities, chaos is taking control. Private property ownership is under attack. In the name of Smart Growth your dream home could soon be banned as the space is being taken over by public housing projects.
Small businesses, the very foundation of our free market economy, are under attack. It’s bad enough that small retail businesses must now contend with the growing anarchy of thieves simply rushing in and grabbing any items they choose, as law enforcement is forced to stand by and do nothing. But what about the local restaurant that has always featured your favorite meal? Now, in the name of climate change, the government is moving to ban the stoves on which they cook the meals. And what would they be able to cook now that government is driving to ban beef and dairy? We used to have pesticides to get rid of bugs; now they are destined to be our next dinner!
However, as the federal government continues to rush ahead, state and local governments, designed by our Founders to be the first line of defense against tyranny, are now blindly falling in lockstep with the powermongers.
City councils across the nation are joining non-elected regional councils, which create a one-size-fits-all system of control, ignoring local differences. The regional councils delete the will of the local citizens by piling on federal grants and the federal regulations that come with them. Local elections become meaningless as their city council members surrender to the rule of the regional council and explain there is nothing they can do about it. So why elect them?
Fourteen major American cities are part of a globalist climate NGO known as the “C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.” The goal of the group is “0” meat and dairy consumption by 2030. Also included in the goals are “0” private vehicles owned by citizens, only “1” short-haul air flight per person every 3 years, and “3” new clothing items per person per year. The group is funded mainly by Democrat billionaire Mike Bloomberg, and nearly 100 cities across the world are members. In the U.S., members include Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New Your City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Seattle. Now as the plan is exposed, the group denies these are “not policy recommendations,” but rather just “different emission-reduction alternatives and long-term urban visions.” But we’re watching them unfold daily. Own nothing and be happy!
In Belmont County, Ohio, the Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) established the Egypt Valley Wildlife Refuge. It encompasses over 28,000 acres of land that cannot be used for private enterprise or homes. As it was being put in place, the ODNR promised local citizens that tourism, lakes, trails, hunting, fishing, etc., would be developed to assist the local economy. None of those promises were fulfilled. And the ODNR pays no taxes or provides services. As a result, the county is in major financial difficulty. The average tax income loss for the county is $8,932,000 that would have gone to pay for schools, roads, law enforcement and public services. Citizens of the country suffer from a lack of local businesses, food services, and products.
In Pataskala, Ohio, a small rural community of about 17,000, a massive solar panel assembly plant is being built. It will employ over 800 people to assemble solar panels with material from China. Why is this a problem? Well, that’s in the details. You see, the lead company in the project, called Illuminate USA, isn’t really a company. It’s a shell designed to get around any future US regulations that would prevent a foreign company from owning property. 49% of Illuminate USA is owned by LONGI, a partner with Invenergy – a Chinese corporation. It’s all a shill designed to pretend these solar panels are “American Made.” Of course, the mayor and city council of Pataskala see dollar signs and are allowing this plant to move forward, in spite of the fact that a huge number of local citizens oppose the plan, fearing that it will drastically change the entire atmosphere of their rural community. The mayor is calling such citizen opponents “Radicals.”
In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed HB271 into law as part of her drive to enforce ambitious climate change goals for the state. On the same day, she signed HB5120 to take power over green energy projects from the local community government and give it to the Michigan Public Service Commission. Essentially, these two bills have removed local control over land use. Again, state regulations are being used to eliminate local control.
Many parents are now beginning to understand that the public-school curriculum is little more than propaganda for climate change. Students have really become victims of this sinister plot to change society. As a result, all over the world, young people are being radicalized and encouraged to take drastic action against our entire way of life.
“STOP OIL” is a major nongovernmental organization (NGO) training students to lay on highways and block cars from passing. The goal, of course, is to make driving more difficult, resulting in people abandoning their gas-powered cars.
Even worse, in museums around the world, another NGO called “DECLARE EMERGENCY” is leading attacks on precious art, claiming we spend money worshipping the past rather than focusing on stopping climate change. In the past year, climate change radicals have defaced DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa,” Degas’ “Little Dancer,” and Monet’s “Haystacks.” Hate of our society, free enterprise, and private property are at the root of the demonstrations.
Most recently, two activists of DECLARE EMERGENCY charged into the United States National Archives, where the original copies of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are on display. They smeared red powder on the glass covering the constitution and declared, “We are determined to foment a rebellion. We all deserve clean air, water, food and a livable climate.”
And finally, there is this situation. In a Washington, D.C. court a major case was heard and the decision could seriously affect anyone who would speak out in opposition to the climate propaganda that now surrounds us. Michael Mann, a climate scientist who is one of the major promoters of the questionable climate change fear tactics, filed suit against two scientists who had openly questioned Mann’s credibility. A jury awarded Mann a million dollars in damages. This is an absolute attack on free speech and the ability for anyone to question scientific findings.
Is it then a surprise that Senator Ted Cruz is probing ongoing efforts to quietly train federal judges on the Left’s climate change agenda? The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project, funded by left-wing nonprofits, is quietly training judges nationwide on climate change litigation. So, don’t you dare question any of their policies, or it may be jail for you!
History has shown not a single success from top-down government control, whether socialist, communist, or today’s drive for a global Great Reset. All we’ve gained are a legacy of broken promises, poverty, misery, and the inevitable tyranny that follows. Yet, the Siren’s Song continues to draw its desperate believers. Today’s drive to eliminate free enterprise, individuality, and private property will not lead to an environmental paradise; rather, it will result in shattered American dreams.
Tom DeWeese
Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence.
Published with permission of americanpolicy.org