Opinion
Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center
02-01-24
How is it possible that someone is talented and involved enough to run for political office and win the election – but once in office, has no clue of the origins or purpose behind the very policies they are forced to consider? Specifically, policies dealing with comprehensive planning, such as Smart Growth, 30×30 land issues, energy, and transportation, all of which affect day-to- day life in the community. These are the issues that every city council and county commission in the nation is now faced with imposing on the community.
Yet when citizens attend council meetings and seek to speak out in opposition, discussing how such policies are negatively affecting their property rights, small businesses, and their neighborhoods, they are often met by their elected council members staring at them, with arms folded, scowls on their faces, and gavels in hand, ready to stop their testimony. Even worse, if opponents try to explain that such policies are rooted in the global Agenda 2030, the Green New Deal or the Great Reset, now the officials really become agitated. You will get several different responses. A council member will say, “I have never heard of this before.” Another will chime in and say, “These policies are all local.” And then comes the final comment on the issue, “This is just how it’s done; everyone is doing it.”
A growing tactic by local and county governments is to hide behind the edicts of government-appointed boards. As I’ve worked across the country to stop the assault on private property and the farm industry, many elected officials have responded saying they oppose such plans, but there is nothing they can do because appointed utility boards oversee the issue. This was the case in Iowa and South Dakota as local residents fought to stop the enforcement of the Carbon Capture Pipelines in which private corporations were using appointed public utility boards to gain the power of eminent domain to just take the land they wanted for this private corporate project.
The fact is appointed boards are created by elected officials, usually to be the workforce to carry out programs that they approved. These appointed boards represent no one. They do not have the right or the power to make policy. They certainly do not have the power to prevent elected officials from representing and protecting the wishes of their constituents. The elected officials are the Boss of appointed boards! Any politician who uses the lame excuse that they have no authority to stop the actions of the appointed board has a different agenda. They want to avoid dealing with the very people who put them in office specifically to protect their rights. In short, they are cowards working against the people!
Where is the Republican Party? As insanity spews out of the Democrat Party, the long-time overseer of limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty has no response, no unified plan to counter the Democrats, and, indeed, seems confused rather than offended by the Socialist antics.
Read the full article here: Who Do Elected Representatives Think They’re Representing? (conservativehq.com)
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
