Groups like the Wilderness Society with their “BLM Action Center” boast about being able to leverage the inefficiencies of the BLM (Bureau Of Land Management) by writing policy, taking inventories, and even training BLM employees in how to carry out the agenda, not of the administration but of the Wilderness Society
…these groups lobby the Department of Justice to prosecute innocent people. And even worse than that, the Department of Justice does it! This is the very definition of mob rule.
Opinion: A Government of Bullies
by Phil Lyman
What should we expect of government? If we expect a progressive improvement in government, then we expect what never was and, logically, never will be. Seneca wrote that “Democracy is more cruel than wars or tyrants.” I am dumbfounded when I watch agencies or elected officials willingly submit to the pressure of special interest groups. In fact, as one observes the collusion of politicians, appointed judges, agency appointees, with special interest attorneys and organizers, the hope of protecting the rights of honest people seems almost lost.
James Madison, one of the framers of our Constitution, wrote, “Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
I recently came across an excerpt from the 1928 U.S. Army Training Manual. It gave the following definition of a democracy: “Democracy: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any form of “direct” expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic — negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.” As politically unacceptable as that definition of “democracy” is today, it is historically spot on.
Is it anti-federal government to demand representation in government? Is it not the highest form of patriotism to stand up against the tide of mob rule that threatens our Republic? Yet the special interest groups label all who oppose them as “anti-government.”
Groups like the Wilderness Society with their “BLM Action Center” boast about being able to leverage the inefficiencies of the BLM (Bureau Of Land Management) by writing policy, taking inventories, and even training BLM employees in how to carry out the agenda, not of the administration but of the Wilderness Society.
The Wilderness Society and the PEW Trust join arms with Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, The Great Old Broads from Colorado, and the Grand Canyon Trust, The Conservation Lands Foundation, and a host of others to overwhelm the Counties. They form “friends” groups, they bus in protestors, they lie, they accuse; anything to achieve their desired ends. Massive robo-petitions and form letters from these special interests lead to the implementation of bad policy based on false metaphor. Even worse, these groups lobby the Department of Justice to prosecute innocent people. And even worse than that, the Department of Justice does it! This is the very definition of mob rule.
We are at a place in history where the law is used, not to protect property, but to take it. As this condition worsens, the responsibility to stand up increases. The disease will run its course and will inevitably lead not to the death of our Republic, but to an implosion and demise of the disease itself. How blessed we are to live in such a time as this!
So the call is clear. Whether the new administration will heed the invitation to restore the Republic is yet to be seen but I and thousands of individual Americans with the power to observe are hopeful that they will.
“If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.” Hamlet
Phil Lyman is a county commissioner from San Juan County, Utah
Welcome to the post-fact reality of 2017.
Phil, is it OK for government bodies to heed input and influence from special interest groups with which you identify? I am thinking of Sputheastern Utah and its off-roaders, pot-hunters, and advocates of prayers in schools.
No. Normal people don’t form “groups” to try to enforce their views on others. Your paradigm of activism is foreign to people in Southeastern Utah. I make decisions based on honest observation and analysis.
Thank you Phil. S.D. passed an Equal Standing resolution 2016, and are going to try and pass a full Equal Standing bill this session.
It would be absolutely terrific if all states west of the 100th meridian (those with the majority of federal land and have Spanish Water Law) to pass Equal Standing.
Here it is cut and pasted as prepared for CO…but got tabled.
DRAFT
LLS NO. 17-0128.01 Michael Dohr x4347 HOUSE BILL
House Committees Senate Committees
A BILL FOR AN ACT 101 CONCERNING THE MALICIOUS DEPRIVATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL 102 RIGHTS BY A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE RELATED TO RANGES OF THE STATE.
Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.) The bill makes it illegal for a person who is a government employee acting under color of law to take any action harmful to any ranch unit or range allotment owner that deprives that owner of any property rights without first giving due consideration to those rights by: Accessing property with permission; Conducting a thorough takings implication assessment; Giving the owner due process; and, paying just compensation as required by law. A violation is an unclassified felony punishable by a fine of up to $500,000 and imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both. An owner who suffers a loss as a result of the person’s actions also has a civil right of action to recover damages.
HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
Klingenschmitt,
SENATE SPONSORSHIP
(None),
DRAFT 9.14.16
1 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: 2 SECTION 1. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly 3 finds that: 4 (a) The livestock sector of the agriculture industry of the state is 5. A critical and significant portion of the agriculture industry of the state 6 And necessary for the continued health, prosperity and well-being of the 7 People of the state; and 8 (b) A significant number of livestock within the state spend a 9 significant part of their lives on ranges of the state 10 (2) The general assembly further finds that: 11 (a) The United States Supreme Court has held that stockwater 12 Rights, range rights, right-of-ways, and improvements appurtenant to or 13 Associated with range allotments and ranch units are Constitutional property rights worthy of protection 14 Under the Fifth Amendment of the United States constitution; and 15 (b) Government employees are required by the Fifth Amendment and 16 Executive Order 12630 to consider the takings implications of their 17 Decisions and actions on the property rights of ranch unit or range allotment 18 Owners before taking those actions. 19 (3) The general assembly declares that this act is necessary to 20 preserve public safety and welfare. 21 SECTION 2. In Colorado Revised Statutes, add 18-8-410 as 22 follows:
1 18-8-410. Malicious deprivation of constitutional rights. (1) A 2 PERSON WHO IS A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE ACTING UNDER COLOR OF LAW 3 COMMITS MALICIOUS DEPRIVATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS WHEN THE 4 PERSON TAKES ANY ACTION HARMFUL TO ANY RANCH UNIT OR RANGE ALLOTMENT OWNER THAT 6 DEPRIVES THAT OWNER OF ANY CONSTITUTIONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS WITHOUT FIRST GIVING 7 DUE CONSIDERATION TO THOSE RIGHTS BY: 8 (a) ACCESSING PROPERTY WITH 9 PERMISSION; 10 (b) CONDUCTING A THOROUGH TAKINGS IMPLICATION 11 ASSESSMENT; 12 (c) GIVING THE OWNER DUE PROCESS; AND 13 (d) PAYING JUST COMPENSATION AS REQUIRED BY LAW. 14 (2) A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE WHO COMMITS MALICIOUS DEPRIVATION 16 OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IS DEEMED TO BE ACTING OUTSIDE THE SCOPE 17 OF ANY GOVERNMENT DELEGATED AUTHORITY AND, THEREFORE, OUTSIDE 18 THE PROTECTION OF ANY GOVERNMENT IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION, AND 19 THE EMPLOYEE IS SUBJECT TO BOTH A CIVIL ACTION AND CRIMINAL 20 PUNISHMENT UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS STATE. 21 (3) A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION IS PUNISHABLE AS AN 22 UNCLASSIFIED FELONY CARRYING A FINE OF UP TO FIVE HUNDRED 23 THOUSAND DOLLARS AND UP TO FIVE YEARS IMPRISONMENT, OR BOTH, FOR 24 EACH SEPARATE OFFENSE. 25 (4) A PERSON WHOSE RIGHTS ARE VIOLATED PURSUANT TO 26 SUBSECTION (1) OF THIS SECTION HAS A PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION 27 AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE WHO VIOLATED SUBSECTION (1) OF THIS 1 SECTION AND IS ENTITLED TO DAMAGES.
{In order to have a civil action 2 there needs to be a specific statutory grant of right. I am not sure if the 3 mention in subsection (2) is sufficient so I added this provision.}> 4 (already defined within)
-4- DRAFT
Why does it seem , that even as Barack is going out the door, our politicians and elected officials are still acting like they are backed into a corner. I refuse to recognize the Bears Ears as a monument because it isn’t one. It was penned onto a piece of paper by a dictator and a coward. It means nothing. I’m sick and tired of all the begging and pleading and the cowering down to Obama. Lets quit crying and whining. Our leaders need to get over their fear of Obama and the environmentalists. Last I heard the Republicans have the leverage of power. Do they have the guts to do anything with that power? Lets face it folks, the time has come to straighten up our backbones, come out of our comfort zones, and stand up for our freedoms and our liberties. I want the so called monument repealed on day one of the Trump administration but I’m not really hearing anything at this point to make me feel very confident that it will happen. So if it happens, wonderful. If it doesn’t, then lets be ready to keep what is rightfully ours, or be forever trodden on.