Utahns Must Defend Freedoms

By Steve Huntsman
Weber Sentinel News
September 2, 2005

As Americans we still live in the greatest country. We have wonderful rights and privileges, and most agree our Founding Fathers were inspired as they wrote for us our great “national treasure,” the U.S. Constitution.

In this document, our founders made it possible for Utah to become a separate and very powerful state of a union. We have the right to elect both local officials as well as national representatives. As a distinct state, we have the right to form legislative bodies and pass laws, as well as the right to say “no” to intrusion on a national or world level upon our God-given rights. What a blessing this is. We can boldly say, because of Article IV we Utahns are part of a strong union, have a republican form of Government, and as such, are still the freest people on this earth. However, our Constitution is now under attack.

In a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Kelo vs. New London case (in a narrow 5-4 vote), freedom-loving Utahns were disappointed when the court chose to allow government bodies the use of eminent domain to acquire property in redevelopment of non-blighted areas in cities. In fact, most wise and freedom cherishing Utahns now feel trampled upon and at risk ¾ that our Constitution is under attack. We have an obligation as Thomas Jefferson said to rally the people back to this written document. We also have the obligation to pass our own legislation and keep Utah on a solid footing. In truth, our elected legislators are bound by oath to support and defend, regardless of religion or decision by the Supreme Court, our Constitution.

Today the Utah Municipal Land Use Development Act (U.C.A. 10-9-102) gives municipalities the right to control city growth and aesthetics, preserve property values and make the rules necessary for the development of our land. This law is a major intrusion upon the constitutional common law rights to own and control property.

Now the Supreme Court has opened the flood gates for cities and towns to go one step further. They can now use force, if necessary, to take ownership of that same property. We as Utahns must stand on higher ground. The West can and must say “no” to this type of intrusion as our wise leaders did this last legislative session when they reigned in local RDAs who were baiting retail developers. I add my voice to the many other warnings that say, “All is not well for your rights” and that there is a global attempt by the United Nations to amputate them.

In June, the United Nations held an international conference in San Francisco. The United Nation’s goal was to think globally but to act locally to promote something called “sustainable development” and a “world environment.” Their target was our local mayors. The mayors attending were wooed by the U.N. elite from Kofi Annan to Hollywood activists.

The United Nations knows that if it promotes local action by the mayors, it can subvert the checks and balances which our Constitution now provides at a state level. The United Nation’s goal is not to promote protecting us from government harm (the proper role of government envisioned by our nation’s Founding Fathers), but rather to seek to plan and control our growth, to remove God from government and to make nature the central principle.

As most of you know, the American Civil Liberties Union has already been a willing accomplice to this end. And if you do not think local mayors have much influence, think about the negative affect Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has had on our state with the help of the Sierra Club.

Simply put, the United Nation’s goal of sustainable development including its “think globally — act locally” initiative is all an effort to subvert the constitutional form of government. Its goal is to promote local law to take away your property and civil rights. Laws already on the books in Utah (like U.C.A. 10-9-102) already allow municipalities to act as they want to remove your freedoms. Because of the state mandate, which mirrors many parts of the U.N. agenda, our local cities in Utah can now pass laws using the guise of “protecting property values” to control your home and business.

Has government now become the harm? When our local city leaders act to force their ideas of environmental beauty and aesthetics upon our shoulders, it is not praiseworthy. The elevated mandates force expenses and cast out the poor from our cities in favor of a utopian society. They could go so far as to pass an ordinance that would require all mailboxes to be built of silver in an effort to promote aesthetics and preserve property values.

This legislative session, let us support those individuals and create legislation in Utah that defends our common law rights to own and control private property. Our legislators are derelict in their responsibility to the oath of office which they took to defend our Constitution if they do not pass laws which prevent local officials from going beyond the mark. The best is yet to come for America, and we must head in the right direction to preserve our children’s rights to the same freedoms we now enjoy.

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