Straight
Talk
with Mike Deering This Land is My Land “This land is your land, and this land is my land… This land was made for you and me.” These timeless lyrics penned by Woody Guthrie in 1940 mean something different to all of us. Some accuse the lyrics as being motivated by communism, but that is not what I hear. I hear freedom, the right to own property and turn otherwise unproductive land into food. I am also reminded of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers.
MARCH 2021
The framers of the Constitution undoubtedly treated private property as the corner-post of a free society. I believe one of the most important values of the Founding Fathers was their belief in the necessity of securing property rights. In fact, both federal and state courts were actively engaged in defending property rights from legislative abridgement until the New Deal era in the middle of the 20th century. It is saddening that we are still fighting against abridgment of those rights in Missouri.
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This association is fighting against the pervasive invasion of private property rights in the state legislature. While I have personal issues with eminent domain in general, it was intended to be used as a last resort to provide critical needs to the general public. We are now in a situation where the eminent domain process is being used and abused by out-of-state big money in what appears to be an easy avenue to cheap land while providing little benefit to Missouri citizens. It is a way to avoid talking to landowners and negotiating a fair price for their land. It takes the choice away from landowners and tramples all over the vision of the Founding Fathers. That sounds a tad like communism, but I won’t go there quite yet.
Executive Vice President Much like the Constitution, this association’s grassroots policy book is rooted in the preservation of private property rights. I argue that the majority of our individual policies come back to this fundamental right. We must push back relentlessly on Invenergy’s so-called Grain Belt Express. The fix is in the hands of your elected leaders and is a priority of this association. We must pass Senate Bill 508 and House Bill 527, sponsored by Sen. Jason Bean and Rep. Mike Haffner respectively. This is truly our last chance to stop this land grab. This fight is bigger than one transmission line project. Blindly allowing this project to continue will send the dangerous message to the rest of the country that our land is up for grabs for those looking to transform rural Missouri into a super-energy-highway for the East Coast. Even Illinois refused this project, but the massive dollars spent on lawyers and lobbyists is certainly working in their favor. I refuse to believe this fight is not winnable. We need you to get loud. Actively call your legislators and attend Cowboys at the Capitol. This land is your land. This land is my land. Unfortunately, we have to fight like hell to keep it that way.
