by Heartland Institute President, James Taylor
Saving freedom, land rights
The Biden administration is attempting to impose upon America a United Nations agenda to “conserve” at least 30% of each nation’s land, primarily under government ownership or control, by the year 2030, supposedly to protect the environment.
Statements from leaders of the agenda suggest that number may then grow to 50% and then 70%. An American, pro-freedom public policy organization is hosting a summit in Lincoln Friday to oppose such a government land grab.
On April 19, the Journal Star published a guest column by Kyle Herrig trashing the organization – American Stewards of Liberty – and the summit. The guest column was personal in nature, nasty in tone and misleading in substance. As a speaker at the summit, I welcome the opportunity to respond to Herrig’s column.
America is a nation of the people, by the people and for the people – not the government. Our nation will only remain free when individual people own and control the vast majority of the land, not the government. Moreover, individual Americans and local governments have proven much better stewards of our lands than the federal government. Government mismanagement of lands leading up to the Western U.S. wildfires in recent years illustrates that point.
The American Stewards of Liberty chose Lincoln to host its “Stop 30×30” summit Friday because of Gov. Pete Ricketts’ leadership protecting Nebraskans and Americans from the 30×30 agenda. More than 200 people – primarily Nebraskans – have signed up to attend the summit.
Herrig repeatedly disparages many of the Americans who will be speaking at the conference as “out-of-staters.” This is surprising and inconsistent with the Nebraska I know. When I was growing up in the Nebraska border town of Sioux City, Iowa, I knew Nebraskans as a distinctively kind and welcoming people.
The Nebraska I know would graciously welcome fellow Americans to come visit Nebraska and host a conference here, not insult and disparage them for doing so. It is ironic that Herrig, who lives in Washington, D.C., and works for a Washington leftist political organization, seems to forget what it means to be a Nebraskan.
Herrig accuses American Stewards of Liberty of “lying,” and being “grifters suckering local governments that can least afford it out of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.” Looking past Herrig’s decidedly un-Nebraska-like personal nastiness, Herrig is the one who lies in his accusations and supports grifters sucking local governments dry.
Herrig claims there will be “mass extinctions” if government does not take control of “at least 30% of the Earth’s lands and waters by 2030.” Such a statement is hardly widely accepted science.
Herrig also advocates the “30% by 2030” narrative without mentioning that the United Nations and lead figures in his movement say that 30% should be only the beginning. They advocate 50% by 2050 and an eventual 70% government control of all land. Not disclosing this is clearly a lie of omission.
Herrig claims American Stewards of Liberty “pays 94% of its revenue as salary to its husband-wife executive duo … with more than $700,000 coming from local taxpayers living in counties that often have trouble coming up with the resources to pay for critical services.” However, public records show American Stewards for Liberty typically has total annual revenue of between $250,000 and $500,000, not $700,000.
Moreover, public records show the husband-wife duo work full-time for a cumulative salary of less than $200,000. In only two years has the husband-wife team’s under-$200,000 total salary (an average of less than $100,000 apiece) approached anything close to 94% of the organization’s annual funding. Herrig should stick to the 30×30 issues rather than engage in unprovoked and disingenuous character assassination.
While accusing pro-freedom advocates of being “grifters suckering local governments,” Herrig neglects to mention that he and his organization advocate for wind and solar power subsidies, which already dwarf the subsidies given to conventional energy generation.
Nebraskans – rather than the United Nations, the Biden administration, or leftist political organizations – deserve to own and control their own land. That’s what makes America America. All of the personal attacks and false assertions told by Washington, D.C.’s Kyle Herrig will never change that.
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The land lotto will get millions of acres of federal land into private deeded hands.
The USA govt has to get out of the land bus.
They failed to manage the lands they had.