Heart of Ag: Don’t Give up Freedom for Quick Carbon Cash

In coming weeks, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is expected to publish a food systems road map calling for the West to limit their consumption of meat in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This falls right in line with a long-standing agenda to slap regulations on livestock producers and take meat, dairy and eggs off the dinner plate for average Americans.

Think of U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s infamous attack on cow farts in her proposed Green New Deal.

Or Al Gore’s flopped climate change hysteria, which laughably did nothing to change the climate, but did a whole lot to line his pocketbook.

More recently, the New York Post released an article titled “Humans may be fueling global warming by breathing,” which says the quiet part out loud – these people really despise humanity. 

And, politicians in liberal cities like New York have enacted meatless Mondays in the public school system to reduce GHG emissions, a cruel joke for the city’s kids who are deprived of quality protein during the school day. 

It’s nonsensical science where propagandists, politicians, talking media heads and celebrities use the same tactic – keep repeating a lie until it becomes the truth. 

We are told two plus two does not, in fact, equal four, but instead, if we take a long winding road filled with fancy-sounding words like “sustainability,” “carbon neutral” and “net zero,” we can convince the general public two plus two equals five. 

Not because it’s even remotely true, of course, but because there’s money, control and power at stake. 

The real truth is American agriculture is an absolute success story when it comes to environmental stewardship. We produce more food using fewer natural resources than ever before, and the current narrative is trying to convince American farmers and ranchers to admit they are somehow at fault of doing wrong.

The carbon capture agenda is a noose around our necks, and we simply cannot hand them the rope.

In several Democrat-run states, legislation has been passed this year to advance this agenda even farther. 

According to the Daily Caller, “Michigan, California, New York and Illinois have all passed legislation to consolidate authority over land use issues and rules with state-level bureaucrats at the expense of local governments which could have altered their own zoning codes to stem the tide of industrial green projects like solar and wind farms.”

“These policies deprive rural residents in these states of their freedom and local autonomy, while also benefiting the corporate interests which line the pockets of the states’ Democratic governors, state policy experts and lawmakers,” the Daily Caller continues.

Ironically, we face the very same issues in my Republican-led home state of South Dakota, where the push for “private-public partnerships” seeks to use subsidies and tax credits to enrich the very few, while jeopardizing private property rights and local government control.

A proposed carbon pipeline is ironically bringing Democrats and Republicans in this state together – standing united – because citizens are being threatened, coerced, attacked and smeared for simply standing up for their private property rights. 

A pipeline company has slapped condemnation papers on landowners, has showed up to survey on private property with armed security and when faced with criticism and extreme public outcry, they have come to the conclusion they need to regroup and try to be “nice.”

Meanwhile, a cushy little campaign has put up billboards around the state to try to smear anyone who stands in the way of “progress,” as a fringe radical. 

I’ve been told resisting this carbon pipeline is a losing effort. However, if it goes through, it will be a floodgate of who and what comes through our land next. Just wait. 

I recently attended a meeting of concerned landowners in a small little South Dakota town just last week, and let me tell you, it was a packed house of landowners and concerned citizens all asking the same thing, “What can we do to stop this?”

The answer is simple – we demand our conservative leadership and Republican-led legislature stand behind the Constitution, as they pledged on the Bible to do. 

Never forget, under the Constitution, we hold inherent rights – “All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring and protecting property and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights are instituted among men, serving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

George Washington once said, “Freedom and property rights are inseparable.” 

And if we lose control of the very ground we stand on, we are not free in the state of South Dakota. It’s as simple as that. 

We would be wise not to toss our children and grandchildrens’ freedoms aside in favor of a fat climate change check fueled by leftist extreme environmental agendas. The question remains, do we have enough backbone to stand up and speak up? 

I stand with the independent landowners in rural states like South Dakota, and I hope you will join me in doing the same. 

Amanda Radke is a rancher, author, motivational speaker and podcast host. For more from Radke, visit amandaradke.com.