In 1969, I Founded Licking County Youth for Decency In America. We actually organized one of the nation’s first volunteer walkathon charities – we called it Miles for Millions.
In 1974, I ran for a seat in the Ohio Legislature to represent the 30th House District. It was a slim little district covering Ohio State University, basically designed for a radical leftist. And the incumbent fit the bill perfectly. I didn’t win in that year of Watergate when Republicans were wiped out across the country. But for ten years after I held the record for doing the best against the incumbent.
For the past 30 years I have been deeply involved in studying and exposing the most diabolical attack on Freedom the world has ever experienced. For my efforts I’ve been called a conspiracy theorist, hate monger, and a domestic terrorist. The Southern Poverty Law Center has honored me with four separate reports, saying I have created a career out of spreading false accusations about a simply voluntary environmental idea called Agenda 21.
Recently I spoke in Montana. There was a young reporter who was anxious to debunk anything I said. He asked question after question. Finally, I got up to speak. After I left the stage and walked back to my literature table – there he was again. Referencing my speech, he said, “some of what you said sounded a bit like hate speech.” I turned, looked at him and I said, “Yep, it was – they hate it when I say it!” I didn’t get any more questions from him.
Since the beginning of human society there has always been an individual or a force that was determined to control it all. They organized armies, invaded, broke things, and killed people, subjugating those that were left. Today, we are up against such a force – just as determined to control us – but these guys have found a new weapon to get us to VOLUNTARILY surrender our liberties. Tyranny is so much more peaceful this way!
Now, what could be such a powerful weapon to get us to do that? The tactic is FEAR! — Fear of What? — Environmental Armageddon. The tool of Choice – Climate Change. The Threat – “It doesn’t matter how many rights you think you have if you don’t have a planet to stand on.”
And there it is. Every aspect of our society is targeted – from our money supply, to the energy system, to our food supply, to the education system, to the sanctity of our own home – to the very system of freedom created by our founders. It’s all under attack.
Most Americans today tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, store their belongings, and find 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.
But 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.”
In today’s America, private property is quickly being destroyed across the nation, and note the growing lawlessness that is 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 these forces of “voluntary tyranny” focus so hard on the environment? They won’t even engage in a debate over the so-called science of their claims.
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.
“It’s an emergency! We can’t waste time on petty laws to protect your silly liberties!” Step by step, freedom dies, leaving shattered dreams, as tyranny grows. Private property is the key to a free society – and that’s exactly why most of the climate change farce focuses on controlling or eliminating private property.
At the beginning of its hold on America, the Biden cabal issued Executive Order 14008. 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.
The latest threat to property owners is carbon capture pipelines designed to take thousands of acres of farmland to bury co2 underground to “save the environment.” Of course, any middle school science teacher can tell you that co2 is not a pollutant and every living thing desperately needs it. But politicians at every level of government are falling for this lie as they pad their pockets while grabbing vital farmland You’re starving? Oh well – this is just how it’s done!
Eminent domain land grabs are turning millions of acres of vital farmland over to monstrously rich and powerful 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.
We can’t just fight this battle through Congress. We must also fight here on the local level – in the state legislature, in your community, and in your yard. We’ve seen what can be accomplished when angry moms get involved in the local schools to protect their children. Those moms are fighting with passion. We need the same passion to protect our property.
We must keep this fact in mind; we are not outnumbered – we are out-organized! The property rights of individual owners must be protected. That’s the key to individual and community prosperity. You are all experiencing the effects of government’s blind control of your property. They don’t care.
If you are determined to protect private property rights, then you need to start with a good definition of what private property is. Too many people think it just means a place where you pay to store your stuff.
Here is a definition that was written a few years ago by a Washington State Supreme Court Justice – Richard B. Sanders:
“Property in a thing consists not merely of its ownership and possession, but in the unrestricted right of use, enjoyment, and disposal. Anything which destroys any of the elements of property to that extent, destroys the property itself. The substantial value of property lies in its use. If the right of use be denied, the value of the property is annihilated, and ownership is rendered a barren right.”
We are very polite people. We keep trying to defend liberty. Today, we need to get off the defense and take the offense. I think we can do that by taking that definition of private property as our banner and start demanding our rights.
If you are serious about winning to preserve your freedom, don’t wait for President Trump to do it for you. He has enough to do. Get off the couch, stop making excuses, and take your own action. That’s what our founders did! The American Policy Center (APC) has created many tools and strategies to help local activists to fight back effectively. Many are provided in our Activist Handbook which teaches you how to build a “Freedom Pod” in your community. We’ve done the hard work. Follow those teachings and you can start to make a difference. Bottom line — it’s time for you to be responsible for protecting your own freedom!
Author Tom DeWeese is founder and president of the American Policy Center and is an internationally recognized expert on the issue of Sustainable Development and its attack on private property. He is author of three books, including Now Tell Me I Was Wrong, ERASE, and Sustainable: the WAR on Free Enterprise, Private Property, and Individuals.
- grassroots activism
- property rights
- Southern Poverty Law Center
- Agenda 21
- climate change
- John Locke
- Founding Fathers
- Environmentalism
- public lands
- carbon capture pipelines
- farmland
- eminent domain
- green energy
- Freedom Pods
- Sustainable Development
