Our way of life should not be for sale
Sometimes money makes us poor. When I think about our state and the communities across it, I feel truly thankful to live here where family, friends, hard work, and handshakes still mean the world to us. Our riches don’t come from money, they come from each other, the land we live on, and the resources we enjoy. Our way of life should not be for sale.
The biggest threat we face is coming from money being doled out in Washington, D.C., to fund local projects that implement disastrous policies — policies ranging from Title XI mandating that boys be allowed to compete in girls’ sports, to the new Bureau of Land Management rules which make non-use of land an official use, to the war on energy and agriculture through the Biden/AOC “Green New Deal/30x30,” and the list goes on and on and on!
These policies and projects are being implemented right in our own back yards and communities, often by well-meaning souls who just can’t see the bigger picture or state policy makers chasing federal dollars. Many Wyoming citizens are fighting back because they understand this is nothing more than a giant money laundering scheme designed to decimate the middle class and transfer generational wealth, all to increase the clout and balance sheets of a few powerful puppet masters.
Unfortunately, in the 2023 legislative session Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill passed by the Legislature that would have prevented private companies from condemning private property for wind energy collector lines.
In response, the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee has taken up the topic of eminent domain as private property across the state could be threatened with condemnation due to increased wind and solar development. When a government subsidized, private for-profit company working with your neighbor can condemn your property for their own benefit, do you really have any private property rights? And has anyone even considered or found a way to measure the long-term cost of taking agricultural land out of production in pursuit of unreliable, unaffordable, government subsidized energy sources?
The tried-and-true structure of our society as to how we make a living, derive our energy, manage our land, and raise our families appears to be up for grabs as the global elites plot to monetize everything. We must have the courage to say these things are not for sale at any price.
While Sweden abandons failed policy around net neutral carbon emissions, and the United Kingdom warns that immediate transition away from fossil fuels is impossible, in Wyoming — the state that has the most to lose — Gordon is doubling down by joining forces with Colorado’s far Left-leaning, Governor Jared Polis to sell the air.
Disguised in an effort to capture and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, his policy has people involved in agriculture scratching their heads, as we all appreciate the value of the essential plant food known as CO2.
If we were unsure of the reason behind the governor prioritizing this issue, verbiage from his press release makes it clear: “The federal government has established several significant incentives and competitive grant opportunities to test and scale direct air capture technologies and projects.”
Getting in bed with Joe Biden’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency is always counterproductive for Wyoming.
As lawmakers, we must protect the individual rights of our constituents to life, liberty and the use of their property. We must answer the plea to keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets rather than use it against them to participate in the global green Ponzi scheme.
We must continue to chart our own course, hold on to our convictions, stay true to our values, and have the fortitude to resist well-funded self-destruction. If we take this money, in the end it will cost us everything.
Our way of life is not for sale!
— Sen. Cheri E. Steinmetz
7/13/23
