A cornerstone of our great nation is the right to own private property and to retain the fruits of our individual labor. The Founders of our nation were convinced that core to the pursuit of man’s liberty and happiness is private property rights and that a just government will seek to secure those rights. Consider their words:

Thomas Jefferson: “wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouths of labor the bread it has earned.”

John Adams: “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God … anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.”

James Madison: “Government is instituted to protect property of every sort …. This being the end of government, that is not a just government,… nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has … is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.”

The New York Court of Appeals (the state’s top court) has a different view of property ownership. It ruled this week that New York can use “eminent domain” to force homeowners and businesses to sell their properties to the developer of a huge development project in Brooklyn that includes a new arena for the New Jersey Nets.

For those not familiar with the concept of “eminent domain”, the term is defined as the inherent power of the government to seize private property from a citizen with due monetary compensation, but without the owner’s consent.

The New York constitution grants the state government power to take and clear substandard and insanitary areas for redevelopment. Chief Justice Lippman noted that this law was originally intended to address the problem of slums and to create replacement low-cost housing. He continues that in this instance, there are only “mild conditions of urban blight”. Justice Smith, writing the minority opinion, stated that while the northern area of the project suffers from some blight, the southern part “appears … to be a normal and pleasant residential community.”

In this case, the court sided with the state and a commercial property developer who sought the forceful sale of private property for the benefit of other private citizens. They relied upon a law that was designed to alleviate the suffering of the poor in unhealthy dwellings. The result is that private property is being forcefully taken from private citizens, the poor and all residents lose their homes, and a private developer is enriched. The underlying rationale is that this will end up being a better use of the property and that the broader community will benefit from the arena, shopping space, and more pleasant businesses. Let me state the rationale in starker terms: Depriving the one of his constitutional rights is justified as it benefits others.

This case is relevant to more than just New Yorkers as a similar case was recently tried before the Supreme Court, which also found for the “public benefit” and against the property owner. This trend is clearly one that impacts the entire each of us and the reasoning can be used to take anything away from anyone

Perhaps the neighborhood would be better off if the city took your house and built a park in its place (the neighborhood benefits). Perhaps the state should take away your car and require you to take public transportation (all living organisms benefit less pollution). If such is the case, is it really yours to keep or is it only yours to use until the government says otherwise?

Remember Adams’ words: “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God … anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.” With these in mind, one must ask whether the courts are treating property ownership as sacred as the laws of God, or whether we are being dragged toward anarchy and tyranny.

Source: Fox News

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Think back to the joys of childhood. When I do, my thoughts go to things like sweetened cereal, exploring my world on a bicycle, recess, and so many truly simple pleasures. I remember the weekly excitement when my mother would sit down with us children to dispense our allowances. My own children cannot fathom it, but I remember when a nickel a week made me feel rich. I also remember the agony of being forced to surrender a portion of my booty to the college savings box that perched high on my chest of drawers.

Despite the generosity, it seemed at times tyrannical that my parents would give with one hand and take away with the other. In her wisdom, mom explained that she didn’t have to give me an allowance, that a condition of allowance was setting some aside in a savings account, that this for my benefit, and that someday I would be glad she taught me this lessons.

As an adult, I’ve learned that there is, however, a true grownup version of “tyrannical allowance”. This occurs when the government uses its coercive power to dictate what you are allowed to do and what you must do with your personal funds, though the government did not give you the money nor has it a legal claim on those funds. We see this abuse of power on clear display in the healthcare bill the House of Representatives just passed. In that bill, Americans will be forced to own health insurance or pay a penalty. To my knowledge there is no precedent of the federal government forcing Americans to purchase a product or service.

Such an unconstitutional power grab by Washington pales by comparison to what is being considered in the name of global warming. Just consider the Cap and Trade bill that the House passed earlier this year. If this legislation becomes law, it is yet another step we take as a country toward European style environmentalism. Given the threat posed by such a course, it seems wise to consider where this path is leading us.

In the United Kingdom, a member of the House of Lords (equivalent to our Senate), is endorsing a plan that “grants” each Britain a “carbon allowance”. Don’t be confused by the language. This allowance is merely a euphemism for “restriction”. This scheme would create personal carbon accounts preloaded with a specific level of carbon credits. These accounts would restrict Brits from consuming above a certain level of carbon producing products and services. They would be required to provide their account numbers when purchasing anything that increases their own carbon footprint and credits would be subtracted from their account for making the offending purchase. More for an airline ticket and less for a ride on the electric trolley, for example. Like a bank account, when one’s account hits zero the account has to be replenished. In this plan, consumers would be forced to buy additional carbon credits to make more purchases.

Which products and services add to our carbon footprints according to self-proclaimed carbon experts?

• Airline travel
• Gasoline consumption
• Electrical power consumption
• Products which require power for their production
• Products not produced locally (their transport consumes carbon based fuel)
• Non-local fresh food
• Beef and other high-flatulence meat products

After a while a person begins to ask, what wouldn’t be on the list?

Not only would such a plan create a significant tax on businesses everywhere with a resulting dampening of the economy, but it is an all out assault on personal liberty.

Will we also follow this British plan for carbon reduction? Our nation is clearly following a radical environmental agenda. Not radical because it will help the environment, but radical because it empowers the government to use its coercive power to control nearly every aspect of our lives. Better that a benevolent government would educate and inspire us to a more environmentally friendly lifestyle than to big-brother us into misery. Let us do what we can to change the course of this path.

Take a moment today to discuss with your family and friends where you stand on this issue and what steps you each can take to ensure our nation continues to enshrine personal liberty and what role the government should play in carbon production levels.

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Last Saturday, the House narrowly passed landmark legislation that would transfer one sixth of the U.S. economy into the hands of a massive federal bureaucracy which would be established to manage a national healthcare system, aka Obamacare. The Senate is currently trying to craft a single bill from the three that passed out of committee, none of which are as extreme as the House version, but the bill likely to come before the Senate for a final vote is still truly frightful.

The Senate bill will:

• Tax employers for hiring
• Tax health insurance companies for offering plans the government deems too expensive
• Tax medical-device companies for staying in business
• Force individuals to buy health insurance that meets government standards or pay a penalty
• Mandate increased state spending on healthcare
• Mandate increased employer spending on healthcare
• Mandate increased personal spending on healthcare

If passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by the president, the resulting government control of healthcare will:

• Drive insurance premiums much higher and much faster than they are currently rising
• Drive insurance companies out of the health insurance business as severe regulations drive all profits from the industry
• Force insurance companies to drop the elderly as the government cuts Medicare payments
• Force more and more Americans onto the “public” (government run) insurance option

When all is said and done, the clarion call from the most liberal legislators – we must ensure that all Americans have health insurance – will cease to matter. When they have fully implemented their agenda, we will have become slaves to a tyrannical bureaucracy. Instead of worrying about whether the poor have health insurance, each of us will agonize over our health and wellbeing, which will be in the hands of the “arbitrary and inhumane decisions of distant bureaucrats in Washington where there’s no competition and no compassion. There’s nobody else you [will be able to] go to if you’re handed a decision you don’t like regarding your family’s medical care.”1

Obamacare is being designed and implemented against the will of a large majority of Americans by the same individuals who have already driven our country massively into debt by underfunding other enormous entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The tragic thing is that while unprecedented numbers of Americans have protested this travesty, so many of us have failed to even call our legislators to demand they back away from the precipice. This is inaction we cannot afford as our nation, which was “founded on the notion of individual liberty, private property, limited government, is run by politicians now who reject it all!”2

There are those who are hopeful that the Senate will be more deliberate and responsive to the voices of their constituents. Whether that is true or not, it is certain they will not respond to our voices if we do not raise them. Make no mistake; this legislation will change your life and your children’s lives. Will we let this happen on our generation’s watch?

1. Limbaugh, Rush. “Obmamcare: the Road to Serfdom.” The Limbaugh Letter Nov. 2009. Print.
2. Ibid.

Also referenced: “An expensive way to die.” National Review 2 Nov. 2009: 16. Print.

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Recently, former Utah State Supreme Court Justice, Dallin H. Oaks addressed the students of BYU Idaho on the subject of religious freedom. Much of his speech applies more broadly to all of our constitutional liberties. Below, I quote liberally from his message.

“Following the perestroika movement in the Soviet Union, popular demonstrations in Mongolia forced the Communist government to resign in March 1990. Other political parties were legalized, but the first Mongolian elections gave the Communists a majority in the new parliament, and the old repressive attitudes persisted in all government departments. The full functioning of a democratic process and the full enjoyment of the people’s needed freedoms do not occur without a struggle. In Mongolia, the freedoms of speech, press and religion — a principal feature of the inspired United States Constitution — remained unfulfilled.

“In that precarious environment, a 42-year-old married woman, Oyun Altangerel, a department head in the state library, courageously took some actions that would prove historic. Acting against official pressure, she organized a “Democratic Association Branch Council.” This 12-member group, the first of its kind, spoke out for democracy and proposed that state employees have the freedoms of worship, belief and expression, including the right to belong to a political party of their choice.

“When Oyun and others were fired from their state employment, Oyun began a hunger strike in the state library. Within three hours she was joined by 20 others, mostly women, and their hunger strike, which continued for five days, became a public demonstration that took their grievances to the people of Mongolia. This demonstration, backed by major democratic movement leaders, encouraged other government employees to organize similar democratic councils. These dangerous actions expanded into a national anti-government movement that voiced powerful support for the basic human freedoms of speech, press and religion. Eventually the government accepted the demands, and in the adoption of a democratic constitution two years later Mongolia took a major step toward a free society.

“One of the great fundamentals of our inspired constitution, relied on by Oyun of Mongolia and countless others struggling for freedom in many countries, is the principle that the people are the source of government power. This principle of popular sovereignty was first written and applied on the American continent over 200 years ago. A group of colonies won independence from a king, and their representatives had the unique opportunity of establishing a new government. They did this by creating the first written constitution that has survived to govern a modern nation. The United States Constitution declared the source of government power, delegated that power to a government, and regulated its exercise.”

In a time where we see our liberties and freedom threatened from all sides, each of us must be an Oyun in some way or we choose to simply surrender our liberties – and our children’s. It need not be a hunger strike, but we need to be politically active. A lot is accomplished by speaking about issues with friends and relatives, calling our representatives (sounds a little scary, but is amazingly easy to do), aligning with like-minded folks in larger movements like the Tea Parties, etc.

Then, if we are truly engaged, we will have the opportunity to dialogue with our political adversaries. The Honorable Dallin Oaks suggests some principles when engaging with political addversaries:

• Speak respectfully, always showing patience, understanding and compassion toward our adversaries.
• Do not be deterred or coerced into silence by the kinds of intimidation that abound today. We must insist on our constitutional rights, to vote our consciences on public issues and to participate in elections and debates in the public square and the halls of justice. These are the rights of all citizens.
• Be wise in our political participation. The call of conscience requires no secular justification. At the same time, we will be most persuasive in political discourse by framing arguments and positions in ways that are respectful of those who do not share our beliefs and that contribute to the reasoned discussion and compromise that is essential in a pluralistic society.

Decide today, what actions you will take to protect the liberties you enjoy and that your children deserve. Then, rigorously encourage friends and family to join you.

(Please see the full address here.)

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