A Sleeping Giant

I love agriculture. I’m a lifelong farmer, rancher, and landowner. And it makes me so proud to see the innovation, stewardship, and entrepreneurship displayed by hardworking producers who utilize our natural resources responsibly to provide the essentials of life to citizens. I love my friends in the ethanol business, as well, and I know that industry will be around and thriving for years to come.

There’s a million dollar campaign with billboards claiming anyone who is against a carbon pipeline is against agriculture and South Dakota. This is a lie to smear the hard-working folks who call this place “home.” This is an attempt to silence people who know and understand the Constitution, and who are willing to stand up and speak out in favor of protecting private property rights and ensuring local communities have a say in the projects that come to their hometowns. 

Last week, a private property rights rally was held in Pierre, SD, and I was humbled and honored to stand alongside landowners, farmers, ranchers, county commissioners, legislators, and concerned citizens at this event. As the legislative session kicks off, we asked three things of our elected officials — 1. Protect private property rights; 2. Maintain local government control; and 3. No eminent domain for private gain.

During the rally, the Rotunda of our state’s Capitol was filled with passionate, caring individuals who want the best future possible for our state, one where our fundamental freedoms remain intact.

Personally, I got involved in this discussion two years ago. We were on our way home from the South Dakota State Fair with our pickup and trailer, a load of cattle, and all the kids in the backseat when I got a call from a tearful elderly widow whose ten-acre plot of land where she had called home for 50 years was in the direct path of the pipeline.

We spent two hours talking on the phone about how she had been bullied, harassed, and intimidated to sign over control of her property and give access to a company she did not want there. They had told her every single one of her neighbors had already signed, which was a lie, and that if she didn’t follow suit, they would condemn her property and use eminent domain to put the pipeline wherever they saw fit on her property.

Listening to her story, I couldn’t believe this was happening in South Dakota, a place that is currently being advertised as “the freest state in the nation.” I couldn’t believe that a private out-of-state, foreign-backed company had been emboldened enough to attempt to condemn and seize control of property owned by honest tax-paying citizens in our state. It was sickening to see this group attempt to use mob rule to take what wasn’t theirs.

And after that initial phone call with the widow, the messages from concerned citizens kept coming. It was undeniable to me that this wasn’t just the fight of the poor landowners in the line of this pipeline. This was the fight of every citizen in South Dakota who believes in the Constitution, and who understands the importance of protecting the individual, over the corporations.

I’ve been told I am on the losing side of this fight. You can’t beat them, so you might as well join them. I have been laughed at by people in this state who have traded principle and the Constitution, in favor of power, control, greed, and self-serving ambitions.

I am a Bible believing Christian, and I know this is a David and Goliath story. I know the odds are in the favor of the well-connected, wealthy businesses who are trying to run a corporate oligarchy in our state. However, do you know what else I know that these carbon pipeline developers and politicians simply do not?

They don’t know who we are in South Dakota. They don’t know our heart. They don’t know how big our majority is when we lock arms together. They don’t know how hard we have worked to build our futures here. They don’t know how tight knit our communities are. They don’t know the resilience and grit of the people who live here. And they don’t know or realize just yet that they have woken a sleeping giant.

There are things in life worth far more than money. There is no compromise in this situation. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. This is a heart issue. This is a Constitutional issue. This is right vs. wrong. Say no to the climate change boondoggle that is nothing more than a money grab using tax payer dollars. And protect the fundamental God-given freedoms and rights we have that are clearly written and defined under the Constitution. 

Our land is not for sale. Under God the people rule!