[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 87 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        PROPERTY RIGHTS TYRANNY

 Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, we in this great Nation have held 
certain truths to be self-evident since the Declaration of Independence 
was signed in 1776. This hallowed document often stands in the shadow 
of the other great treatise of our founding, the Constitution. But 
there is a cause across the West and spreading to every State in the 
Union which makes it necessary to pull the Declaration back into the 
glaring light of public scrutiny. That cause is private property 
rights.
  As we celebrate our Declaration of Indepdendence from the tyranny of 
England this Fourth of July, the truths Thomas Jefferson and others 
declared to be self-evident should ring out across the country.
  All of us are created equal. That principle remains as profound as 
the day Jefferson wrote it. But there is one group of people in Idaho, 
and across this Nation who are not treated equally. Private property 
owners are the victims of an increasing tyranny. Where our forefathers 
experienced the tyranny of the sovereign, property owners across the 
Nation feel the tyranny of the bureaucracy today.
  Listen to the petitions against King George of England:

       He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither 
     swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their 
     substance.

  I find it a disturbing truth that this statement used to describe the 
causes of our revolution more than 200 years ago also exposes the 
unchecked growth of the Government bureaucracy and the torrent of new 
regulations we see today.
  The evidence is overwhelming and is being added to relentlessly. The 
Supreme Court announced a decision just last week in the Dolan versus 
City of Tigard, OR, case. The court ruled the city went too far in 
trying to force a plumbing shop owner to give up 10 percent of her 
land. The city, claiming benevolence, demanded the property for a 
greenway and bike path project or Mrs. Dolan would not get a building 
permit to expand her shop and contribute more to the local economy. 
This is just the latest in a series of government encroachments being 
documented in the Federal courts across this country.
  The British king was also accused of granting his Parliament in 
London the powers of lawmaking rightly belonging to the legislative 
assemblies in the colonies. The Declaration states, ``He has combined 
with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; * * *''
  This startling statement also describes scores of innocent landowners 
threatened today with fines and court orders until they give portions 
of their land to the government in the name of preservation. This 
insidious form of government coercion, whether by the City of Tigard, 
or by gun-toting Federal Fish and Wildlife Service agents is nothing 
short of a grievous violation of the principles we've esteemed for more 
than two centuries.
  Our Declaration of Independence also condemns King George: ``For 
imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.'' And yet, private farm and 
rangeland is taken out of production with no compensation under 
wetlands, or endangered species regulations. I say to the patriotic 
Americans everywhere in this great country, this defines taxation 
without representation, one of the most important core issues in our 
revolution.
  Another of the self-evident truths is that all are endowed with 
certain ``unalienable Rights'': Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of 
Happiness.
  As I travel across my State I see countless loggers and their 
families being systematically denied the pursuit of happiness. They are 
the good, decent, hardworking Americans in the forests of Idaho and 
other parts of the country whose livelihood has been stolen from them.
  The Congress voted to protect plants and animals under the Endangered 
Species Act. The unelected bureaucrats have extended that protection 
beyond the scope of what Congress intended. As a result, owls are 
valued more highly than people who have the explicit right to pursue 
their own happiness.
  In a similar scenario, farmers are afraid to allow parts of their 
land to lie fallow for regeneration. They fear a puddle might form 
somewhere, leading Federal agents to come and declare that land 
unusable by humans. These farmers are good stewards of the land, who 
because of the poor stewardship of the Government and the hopeless 
intrusion into liberty, live in fear that any given day they'll hear a 
knock at their door and be handed a paper which could put them off 
their land.
  The Congress voted to protect navigable waterways from pollution. The 
unelected bureaucrats say that includes the low spots in all farmers' 
fields. The end result threatens the livelihood of people who work the 
land and could come to threaten our precious food supply and the 
pursuit of happiness for many, many other Americans.
  The same men who meticulously documented the tyrannies of their day 
wrote a prescription for the tyrannies of ours:

       * * * That whenever any Form of Government becomes 
     destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to 
     alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government * * *

  The Senate Private Property Rights Caucus begins the process of 
altering the increasingly regulatory nature of our Government. Just as 
the Declaration of Independence documented the oppression of King 
George, we seek to illustrate the tyranny of the bureaucracy. The 
Caucus signals a break with big government infringements and a return 
to the practices of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  The goals of the Caucus are best summed up in the Declaration,

       That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted 
     among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
     governed * * *

  It's time to take back the power seized by bureaucrats and return it 
to the hands of the people. We seek to sow again the seeds of democracy 
in this great land on the anniversary of our defining moment in 
history.

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