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Freedom Action of the Week
Email List Archive
Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k ------------------------------------------------------------------ Edited by Mary Lou Seymour. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this and other lists, click to: http://www.free-market.net/features/lists/ Fourth Week of June, 2002: Speak out on federal land use planning When a band of revolutionaries embarked upon the great experiment in freedom known as the United States more than 200 years ago, the right to private property was one of the bedrock principles embodied by the new nation. For the first 150 years or so, Joe Sixpack could buy his piece of property and do whatever he darn well pleased with it, largely unmolested by the forces of government. Beginning in the 1920s, and continuing until today, statist national "land use planners" have been trying to implement nationwide land use planning, and turn the great experiment in freedom into another regulated homogenous socialist paradise. So far, they have failed (see "A Brief History of The National Land Use Planning Movement" by yours truly for more of the background on this issue). But now ... enter the big guns... federal land use planning. There are two sets of legislation currently wending their way through Congress that will, if passed, implement nationwide comprehensive land use planning: the Heritage Areas Policy Act and the Community Character Act. Two organizations, the American Policy Center and the Defenders of Property Rights, are asking for help in bringing public opinion to bear on these bills. The American Policy Center, dedicated to the promotion of free enterprise and limited government regulations over commerce and individuals, reports "Heritage Areas are a new form of federal land use control, and H.R. 2388 will establish an easy to follow format for creating new ones. It is the environmentalists' dream and a property owner's nightmare. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the land grabbers won the first round H.R. 2388 passed the House Resources Committee." The second big gun is the "Community Character Act." The Community Character Act will officially make the environmental goal of "sustainable development" the law of the land. Currently in the Senate Environment Committee, The Community Character Act (S.975), and its counterpart in the House of Representatives (H.R.1433), is legislation that will legalize enforcement of "sustainable development" in every community in the nation. The bill requires local governments to implement land management plans using guidelines outlined in a federal document called the "Smart Growth Legislative Guidebook." Both versions (Senate and House) are in committee. The Defenders of Property Rights, a national public interest legal foundation devoted exclusively to property rights protection, has information to help "educate state legislators, the regulated business community, trade associations, policy organizations and property rights activists, who oppose federal land use control and the environmental agenda of land use social engineering," links to the "Smart Growth Legislative Guidebook" itself, and information on the Constitutional implications of federal land use planning. The American Policy Center and Defenders of Property Rights need our help. At this point, the main action we can take is to alert our friends throughout the country about the legislation and write letters to our Congresscritters and the newspapers. Defenders of Property has a sample letter about the Community Character Act; American Policy Center has an article on the Heritage Act which sets out the main points you might want to cover. Both organizations have one of those "write your Congresscritter" form pages. To keep up with the progress of these bills, subscribe to the newsletter alerts available at each organization. (You can also go to THOMAS on the web and type in the bill number for an update, or to read the entire legislation -- but be prepared to either be put to sleep by boredom or kept awake by nightmares.) The other thing I'd like you to do is spread the word that these federal bills are not just a flash in the pan, but the culmination of an 80-year campaign for national land use planning. Those of us who've been watching this campaign for years and doggedly fighting battles with local planning commissions over "comprehensive planning" may understand the full extent of this campaign, but the average person -- and even the average elected official -- simply does not. When the battle is on the local level, activists have a chance at affecting or even killing the latest "Smart Growth" policy by turning out folks to pack local council meetings. Fighting local land use plans is one of the most effective means of identifying freedom lovers. Federalizing the issue would take it out of the realm of effective grassroots activism. Til next week For Freedom! Mary Lou === American Policy Center Action Alert on the Heritage Areas Act: http://www.free-market.net/rd/193504625.html Defenders of Property Rights: http://www.free-market.net/rd/602105792.html THOMAS Legislative search engine: http://www.free-market.net/rd/640990198.html "A Brief History of the National Land Use Planning Movement," by Mary Lou Seymour: http://www.free-market.net/rd/804730462.html Action of the Week archive: http://www.free-market.net/features/list-archives/activism/maillist.html -- "Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others." -- Edward Abbey
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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