Most Americans today tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, stores their belongings, and finds 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. 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.” America, be aware, private property is quickly being destroyed across the nation, and note the growing lawlessness 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 government now focuses so hard on the environment? 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. Step by step, freedom dies, leaving shattered dreams, as tyranny grows. The Biden cabal issued Executive Order 14008 at the beginning of its hold on America. 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. Eminent domain land grabs are turning millions of acres of vital farmland over to 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. Other property owners in rural America are facing a new challenge – the elimination of vital dams that have controlled the flow of water, opening new land for productive use. But, says the climate change mantra, those dams aren’t natural, so they are a danger to the environment. They must go. Gone is more private property, a reliable water source, and the individual’s ability to thrive for their own goals. In our once-vibrant cities, chaos is taking control. Private property ownership is under attack. In the name of Smart Growth your dream home could soon be banned as the space is being taken over by public housing projects. Small businesses, the very foundation of our free market economy, are under attack. It’s bad enough that small retail businesses must now contend with the growing anarchy of thieves simply rushing in and grabbing any items they choose, as law enforcement is forced to stand by and do nothing. But what about the local restaurant that has always featured your favorite meal? Now, in the name of climate change, the government is moving to ban the stoves on which they cook the meals. And what would they be able to cook now that government is driving to ban beef and dairy? We used to have pesticides to get rid of bugs; now they are destined to be our next dinner! However, as the federal government continues to rush ahead, state and local governments, designed by our Founders to be the first line of defense against tyranny, are now blindly falling in lockstep with the powermongers. City councils across the nation are joining non-elected regional councils, which create a one-size-fits-all system of control, ignoring local differences. The regional councils delete the will of the local citizens by piling on federal grants and the federal regulations that come with them. Local elections become meaningless as their city council members surrender to the rule of the regional council and explain there is nothing they can do about it. So why elect them? Fourteen major American cities are part of a globalist climate NGO known as the “C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.” The goal of the group is “0” meat and dairy consumption by 2030. Also included in the goals are “0” private vehicles owned by citizens, only “1” short-haul air flight per person every 3 years, and “3” new clothing items per person per year. The group is funded mainly by Democrat billionaire Mike Bloomberg, and nearly 100 cities across the world are members. In the U.S., members include Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New Your City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Seattle. Now as the plan is exposed, the group denies these are “not policy recommendations,” but rather just “different emission-reduction alternatives and long-term urban visions.” But we’re watching them unfold daily. Own nothing and be happy! In Belmont County, Ohio, the Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) established the Egypt Valley Wildlife Refuge. It encompasses over 28,000 acres of land that cannot be used for private enterprise or homes. As it was being put in place, the ODNR promised local citizens that tourism, lakes, trails, hunting, fishing, etc., would be developed to assist the local economy. None of those promises were fulfilled. And the ODNR pays no taxes or provides services. As a result, the county is in major financial difficulty. The estimated tax income loss for the county is $8,932,000 that would have gone to pay for schools, roads, law enforcement and public services. Citizens of the country suffer from a lack of local businesses, food services, and products. In Pataskala, Ohio, a small rural community of about 17,000, a massive solar panel assembly plant is being built. It will employ over 800 people to assemble solar panels with material from China. Why is this a problem? Well, that’s in the details. You see, the lead company in the project, called Illuminate USA, isn’t really a company. It’s a shell designed to get around any future US regulations that would prevent a foreign company from owning property. 49% of Illuminate USA is owned by LONGI, a partner with Invenergy – a Chinese corporation. It’s all a shill designed to pretend these solar panels are “American Made.” Of course, the mayor and city council of Pataskala see dollar signs and are allowing this plant to move forward, in spite of the fact that a huge number of local citizens oppose the plan, fearing that it will drastically change the entire atmosphere of their rural community. The mayor is calling such citizen opponents “Radicals.” In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed HB271 into law as part of her drive to enforce ambitious climate change goals for the state. On the same day, she signed HB5120 to take power over green energy projects from the local community government and give it to the Michigan Public Service Commission. Essentially, these two bills have removed local control over land use. Again, state regulations are being used to eliminate local control. Many parents are now beginning to understand that the public-school curriculum is little more than propaganda for climate change. Students have really become victims of this sinister plot to change society. As a result, all over the world, young people are being radicalized and encouraged to take drastic action against our entire way of life. “STOP OIL” is a major nongovernmental organization (NGO) training students to lay on highways and block cars from passing. The goal, of course, is to make driving more difficult, resulting in people abandoning their gas-powered cars. Even worse, in museums around the world, another NGO called “DECLARE EMERGENCY” is leading attacks on precious art, claiming we spend money worshiping the past rather than focusing on stopping climate change. In the past year, climate change radicals have defaced DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa,” Degas’ “Little Dancer,” and Monet’s “Haystacks.” Hate of our society, free enterprise, and private property are at the root of the demonstrations. Most recently, two activists of DECLARE EMERGENCY charged into the United States National Archives, where the original copies of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are on display. They smeared red powder on the glass covering the constitution and declared, “We are determined to foment a rebellion. We all deserve clean air, water, food and a livable climate.” And finally, there is this situation. In a Washington, D.C. court a major case was heard and the decision could seriously affect anyone who would speak out in opposition to the climate propaganda that now surrounds us. Michael Mann, a climate scientist who is one of the major promoters of the questionable climate change fear tactics, filed suit against two scientists who had openly questioned Mann’s credibility. A jury awarded Mann a million dollars in damages. This is an absolute attack on free speech and the ability for anyone to question scientific findings. Is it then a surprise that Senator Ted Cruz is probing ongoing efforts to quietly train federal judges on the Left’s climate change agenda? The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project, funded by left-wing nonprofits, is quietly training judges nationwide on climate change litigation. So, don’t you dare question any of their policies, or it may be jail for you! History has shown not a single success from top-down government control, whether socialist, communist, or today’s drive for a global Great Reset. All we’ve gained are a legacy of broken promises, poverty, misery, and the inevitable tyranny that follows. Yet, the Siren’s Song continues to draw its desperate believers. Today’s drive to eliminate free enterprise, individuality, and private property will not lead to an environmental paradise; rather, it will result in shattered American dreams.

Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence. He is President of the American Policy Center, www.americanpolicy.org. He is also the National Grassroots Coordinator for CFACT www.CFACT.org

Hang on! This is a survey of power and land grabs throughout history. It’s brutal and may not make sense at first. In the end, it’s a disappointing fantasy—but some suggestions to snap idealistic “war for land” back into reality are possible. Although you may not want a lecture, when you finish reading, you’ll see how history fits as tight as Hanging Judge Isaac Parker’s noose.

Since Adam and Eve, wars seem to have been part of history. From the earliest battles in ancient Mesopotamia to today’s wars in the Middle East, conflicts over land have continually shaped our world. Most wars have been about taking land and tribute from conquered subjects. They were fought for waterways, food production, mines, metals, oil, slaves, and land grabs for the powerful—and usually paid for by the losers.

Some land grabs were indirect, even covert, via taxes. The highest tax recorded in antiquity was Pharaoh’s law that Israeli slaves pay 20% of their produce as a government tax (Genesis 47:26). With that 20%, the rulers eventually created total control of food—and of all the land, commerce, and people of Egypt.

Alexander the Great lived more than 2,000 years ago. By age 30, he had amassed one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India. Widely considered one of world’s most successful military commanders, he was undefeated in his battles for land and tribute.

The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Latin phrase imperium sine fine (“empire without end”) signaled that neither time nor space limited the Empire’s expansion. The basis of Rome’s strength, like Alexander’s, was land capture and tribute.

Taxation under Rome’s Empire amounted to about 5% of its gross product, typically about 2-5% for individuals. The Bible records that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be taxed (Luke 2:1-5). While single-digit rates like these seem small today, at that time 2-5% was harsh. It provided the Roman government prosperity and financial resources to expand the Empire.

What was the key to Roman strength? Trade and infrastructure based on land capture and tribute.

Roman provinces traded among themselves but also outside their frontiers to regions as far away as China and India. Sea power and Roman roads made trade possible. The hard-surfaced roads themselves are considered the most advanced ever built before the early 19^th century. They facilitated military policing, communications, and trade, and were resistant to floods and other environmental hazards. Some remained usable for over a thousand years.

Internally, Rome developed aqueducts as well as permanent roads, generating more value for increased commerce than any of the other Ancients.

The Empire’s expansion and endurance created a culture with a lasting influence on Western language, religion, art, architecture, literature, philosophy, law, and forms of government. All of these powerful influences can be traced to Roman conquest, land acquisition, and tribute.

In modern times, land that falls into government hands becomes either a valuable asset or a management nightmare. Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th President of the USA, believed that private ownership and management of land is more productive than government control. He understood that the Federal government couldn’t possibly manage the whole western USA. Private property was the answer—land surveyed, titled, used, improved, maintained, and loved by non-government owners.

At the peak of the American Civil War, Lincoln developed a strategy to increase the US’s citizen-owned land. He signed the 1862 Homestead Act into law. It was intended to open western lands to settlers on what the government considered to be “idle” tracts of land captured from Native Americans or purchased like Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase. Pioneer homesteaders were required to improve the land and produce goods, food, or a service. If they lived on their 160-acre homesteads for seven years, the land was theirs at no cost.

Even when land was not the motive, war has an uninterrupted history of devastating civilization. Combat and battle have become more sophisticated over time, but war’s effect on human beings has stayed the same: global tragedy and atrocity. Notably, the 20^th-century Holocaust alone resulted in over 11 million people murdered, including 6 million Jews. Between 22 and 26 million men died in battle during World War II. In that war’s final act, between 70,000 and 80,000 Japanese were killed when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Horrifying facts, but that war did protect the American homeland and the homelands of others in Europe and Asia.

We have just hopped over 3,000 years of war, land, and taxes and come to our own times. Hang on for some modern accumulations of land—some beneficial and others that are covert and destructive.

Currently in the USA, the largest landowner is Red Emmerson and his family. Their Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) manages 2.33 million acres, mostly West Coast timberland in California, Oregon, and Washington. Their forest-products company is among the largest US producers of lumber, millwork, windows, and renewable energy. SPI’s business model prioritizes quality wood products, rural job opportunities, wildfire-resilient forests, wildlife habitat, and recreational spaces. The Sierra Pacific Foundation has provided more than $6 million in scholarships to children of SPI crew members, including most recently $521,000 in 2023 alone. Its management plan is creative, ecologically sound, sustainable—and profitable—at no cost to taxpayers. In every way, SPI fulfills President Lincoln’s vision of productive private ownership of land.

Other large private holdings include the King Ranch at Kingsville, Texas. Although many history buffs think that it is the largest ranch in the US, it isn’t. It contains “only” 911,215 privately owned acres. Still, it is a national leader in farming, oil production, and livestock.

Ted Turner has bounced for the last dozen years between first and sixth of the large ranch land owners. He manages 2,000,000 acres of grasslands, much of it scenic, in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and South Dakota. At one time, he said his goal was to own a continuous chain of private property from Mexico to Canada. Turner properties are renowned for spotless management of land, water, and environment.

Bill Gates ranks No. 41 in the US with 275,000 acres, but he isn’t into cattle and ranching. He likes fertile land that grows food and is profitable. In fact, his appraised land assets may exceed many or all those who own more acres.

Those are some modern “good guys” in white Stetsons. Here come some bad guys in black hats.

Enter President Joe Biden, apparently determined to outdo Emmerson, Turner, Malone, Reed, Bezos, Gates, and the King Ranch. On January 4, 2024, in Coconino County, Arizona, he proudly announced that his administration had wrested a whopping 24,000,000 acres from private enterprise for the Federal government—a new record for land takeovers, paid for with public tax dollars, and now eliminated from private management and production.

Why this enormous acquisition? Ostensible reasons include “preservation,” “conservation,” “protection,” and so on. To encourage citizens to believe that these and other millions of acres are still theirs, the government often renames formerly private property as “public” land.

The question bounces back, however: “Who is all this land being protected from?”

Currently, the US government owns 664,000,000 acres—almost 30% of the nation’s total continental land mass of 2,271,343,000 acres. Beyond North American borders, Federal property also includes land in 193 countries for military bases, medical research facilities, and embassies. To put the numbers into context, the Federal government, US States, foreign properties, and easements total more than the entire acreage of the Roman Empire, give or take a few coliseums. Most Americans don’t realize that our government’s undeclared war for land is a covert, out-of-control monster.

How did the federales remove so much land from private tax rolls? Well, they funded it with public tax dollars. The takeover is orchestrated not by Congressional legislation but by executive orders from the Oval Office and rulings from the administrative bureaucracy—without a vote of the citizens or their representatives. The unstated process of this unacknowledged land grab typically bypasses public scrutiny. Agencies in the Executive branch in Washington, D.C., issue rulings, levy fees and fines, collect “tribute,” then buy private property and remove it from production. That bureaucratic removal is a political conquest that marks the end of private management. The process has historically happened in war but continues today under political cover.

As recently as January 2024, President Biden also announced that he was expanding the Green movement in Alaska by closing 10,600,000 acres to oil and gas leasing. The federales already own 95.8% of Alaska, leaving only 4.2% of a resource-rich state for private enterprise to manage and harvest. This administrative action now “protects” the nation’s western Arctic area from the alleged detriment of oil and gas exploration. Where is Alexander the Great when someone needs to step up and make a solid business decision?

That’s not the only conquest of private property orchestrated from D.C. On his inauguration day, Biden mentioned his 30×30 Plan—a strategy (or plot or scheme) to transfer 30% of US land from private ownership to the government by the year 2030. He later released his 50×50 Plan for the government to transform 50% of the US to “public lands” by 2050.

In an Epoch Times interview, Aurelia Skipwith (President Trump’s Secretary of Fish and Wildlife) said, “No one knows how much land the Federal government thinks is enough.” Margaret Byfield (Executive Director of American Stewards of Liberty) said, “This is their end game. The reason for the 30×30 land grab. The purpose for the climate crisis hysteria. We will own nothing. [The US government] will own everything.”

The Federal government, not including State lands, now owns 87.8% of Nevada, 75.2% of Utah, 70.4% of Idaho, 60.4% of Oregon, and more. As noted above, it already owns nearly 30% of continental US land, so it has almost achieved the full 30×30 goal of Federal ownership. As the 50×50 proposal clearly shows, more acquisitions of private land are being planned for the “public good.”

Hang on to the buggy for the ride. Don’t jump now. You may not be concerned with yesterday’s land-grabs by Attila the Hun, or perhaps today’s by Vladimir Putin in Crimea and Ukraine, or maybe not even current marginal US lands a thousand miles away.

But what about tomorrow, on your own doorstep? What if a property is right across the road from your home? What if rumors are circulating that the Feds want to confiscate it through eminent domain? What if some State or Federal agency claims it is fallow ground better used for conservation or wetlands or biodiversity or “the greater good”? You could become the victim of peacetime “tribute.”

Such is the case of Kirkwood Township in Ohio’s Belmont County. Only 4.2% of Ohio is owned by the Federal government, yet the State itself owns 698,597 acres. Here’s the hidden hitch: governments at all levels work together in a fungible relationship. Historically, they have traded land among themselves to fund bridges, city water development, etc. Never have these fungible transactions been determined by a vote of the citizens—never! So we must ask, “Are the Federal and Ohio governments working together on Biden’s 50×50 scheme in Belmont County?”

In Kirkwood Township, a citizens committee has identified the effects of Big Brother as a neighbor. They aren’t good. Under the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), the State of Ohio has acquired up to 28,000 acres in Belmont County for the Egypt Valley Wildlife Refuge (EVWR). It’s working to confiscate more. This land is a small fraction of the 698,597 acres that Ohio already owns, but the committee has discovered that the State’s piece-by-piece “conquest” is devastating the local economy. An undeclared war on private land has made Kirkwood Township the poorest in Belmont County and one of the poorest municipalities in Ohio.

Why this dereliction? Broken promises are the reason that the Egypt Valley Wildlife Refuge has degenerated from its idealistic origins to its present wretched condition. Over two dozen years ago, the ODNR rationalized its takeover of 28,000-acres. It promised to help the local economy by developing tourism through lakes, pavilions, trails, hunting, fishing, etc. To date, however, the 100-acre lake has not materialized—nor have any of the other improvements. As with so much government fallow land, the EVWR is now an impenetrable jungle spotted with litter and heaps of trash.

Why the unfulfilled promises? This public land is suffering from a lack of routine, responsible management.

State-controlled land owners and managers have collected the following facts and numbers from local citizens:

1. ODNR pays zero taxes. The tax loss from the EVWR is estimated at $8,932,000 during ODNR control. This lost revenue could have gone to roads, schools, law enforcement, and public services.
2. No timber has been select cut. It could have been responsibly, sustainably cut every 18 years. 28,000 acres x $2,000/acre x 2 cuts = $96,000,000 of lost income.
3. No agriculture or hunting leases have been issued. 28,000 acres x $30/acre x 28 years = $24,360,000 forfeited—not a cent received by local governments.
4. No oil and gas signing leases. $5,000/acre = $140,000,000 unrealized.
5. No oil and gas royalties. 18-20% annually for 35 years. Incalculable losses.
6. No surface liquidation. $2,000/acre x 28,000 acres = $56,000,000 potential income.
7. Undeterminble loss of private enterprise production of food, products, and services.

Here’s one perspective on these facts: more dollars have been lost from the Kirkwood tax base than Al Capone’s lifetime acquisitions in the City of Chicago.

To repeat, due to negligent and non-existent government management, none of the above has been accomplished in Belmont County, Ohio. This pathetic record is typical of most Federal lands. The government simply does not exercise the care and concern of private enterprise. It contrasts even with Hitler, Caesar, Lincoln, and Zelensky. Irrespective of their methods and morality, they knew how to profit from land ownership. They fought for land and its long-term value to their nations—their citizens.

Good for you—you have read to the end. Here are my suggestions to end these modern land wars in the US:

1. Start an orderly liquidation of all government properties and apply the proceeds directly to the national debt.
2. Commission local, savvy real estate people to manage sales and liquidation—not desk-bound government bureaucrats in far-away offices.
3. Restore funds confiscated from local citizens to local entities before government debts are paid.
4. Be aware. Stay alert. Keep in touch with elected and appointed government representatives. Constantly demand no new land purchases, because governments don’t understand how to manage land intelligently, profitably, or efficiently.

There you go. That fixes it. No more land grabs. No more land wars.

Footnote: you can research the land problem by Googling names and events in this article. Here are a few resources for starters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Acts—President Lincoln’s initiatives

https://landreport.com/top-100-landowners—current American landowners

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javier_Milei—for rescuing Argentina’s economy

https://www.weforum.org/press/2022/01/klaus-schwab-releases-the-great-narrative-as-sequel-to-the-great-reset/–for the World Economic Forum’s vision of a government-controlled future