Tag Archives: James Madison

Bureaucrats Bully Family Farms in D.C. Exurbs (Fauquier County attempting to fine county resident for holding Boy Scout jamborees on his property)

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I live outside Fauquier County in Rappahanock wine country.  Since moving out here ten years ago, we have seen several farms disappear in Rappahanock, Culpeper and Fauquier counties.  The ridiculous regulations and fines being imposed on the local farms and wineries are nothing short of Big Brother tactics.  Fauquier County Zoning Administrator Kimberley Johnson has shut down, or attempted to shut down, political fundraisers on  residential farms for lack of a permit.  The farm owners could have sued  her and the county under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for violating constitutional rights  under the color of state law.  Some of our ancestors died on these very grounds defending our liberty, property and freedom.  Why aren’t WE fighting for the same rights?

 

Bureaucrats Bully Family Farms in D.C. Exurbs

By Mark J. Fitzgibbons via The American Thinker

Fauquier  (/fɔːˈkɪər/)  County, Virginia has become a new battleground against the sprawl of  Washington-style government bullying.  Under the guise of business zoning  authority, Fauquier is now depriving an agricultural community of its liberty to  live the farm life when a little commerce is, and even is not,  involved.

The  county, you see, wants to regulate and fine farm residents on grounds of holding  pumpkin carvings, birthday parties for little girls, and Boy Scout  jamborees.

Fauquier  County is an agricultural community in the beautiful Piedmont mountain region  about an hour west of Washington.  Its motto is “life as it should  be.”  To some county bureaucrats and officials, that means “life as we tell  you how it should be.”

The  growth of the federal government, along with its bureaucratic mentality, has  sprawled into Northern Virginia, and mostly up to now, just shy of  Fauquier.  In once-bucolic Loudon County to the north of Washington, where  family farms stood just 15 years ago, now stand high-rise offices of businesses  with government contracts, lobbyists, and others feeding at the government  trough.  Loudon, the fastest-growing county in America, is not the free  market at work.  It’s a concrete and steel metropolis built directly and  indirectly on taxpayer money flowing into and out of  Washington.

Virginia  is divided now — in many ways — between the Washington suburbs of Northern  Virginia and the rest of the state.  With the sprawl of big government  comes the bureaucratic mentality that what’s yours is theirs to regulate,  control, and dictate.

Virginia,  of course, was the home of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,  Patrick Henry, and George Mason.  The spirit of liberty still runs deep in  parts of Virginia.  Sadly, however, the sense of freedom has been dampened  if not eviscerated among those tied to and benefiting from government power and  money.

Virginia  has long been supportive of agriculture, and the state has a Right to Farm  law.  While family farms are struggling, Virginia has discovered that its  soil and climate are splendid for grapes.  Hence, wineries are popping up  to the joy of a good number of Virginians now employed by them, tourists, and  many tax revenue collectors.

Fauquier  this past week, though, passed a new county ordinance requiring wineries to  close their doors at 6 p.m. and requiring them to pay the county for special  permits for such things as extended hours and catered food.  Because of one  or two wineries where bacchanalia has caused grief for some neighbors, the  county decided to punish all wineries…oh, and to make more money off its theft  of liberty, too.

The  wineries have numbers and money to fight this punitive over-regulation.  By  using narrowly tailored exemptions, though, the county bought off opposition  from some, including one that defeated the county at the Virginia Supreme Court  not long ago.  When government believes that it owns our liberty, it  selectively dishes out some as bribery.

But  Fauquier isn’t just stealing liberty from wineries.  Using Orwellian  oversight and threats of fines, Fauquier is also bullying a tiny farm in Paris,  Virginia that takes in rescued animals and sells organic tea but is not a  winery.  Reading the order against the farm issued by Fauquier County  Zoning Administrator Kimberley Johnson, one may confuse Fauquier for an  anti-family banana republic.

In  deciding to seek fines against the farm, Ms. Johnson’s April 30 order includes  the following specious, frivolous, and ridiculous  items:

1.  The farm has rescued animals;

2.  The farm advertised an “organic tea café” and films its on-site small-farm  events;

3.  As a means to unscrupulously load up her case, Ms. Johnson includes in her list  of allegations certain “events” at the farm she found in an internet search that  even her own order later acknowledges were never held on the  property;

4.  Using her questionable internet investigative “techniques” (the county hasn’t  yet used drones), Ms. Johnson alleges two other events in support of her claims:  a “wine testing” in September 2011, and “a seasonal pumpkin patch and carving  event” in October.  Maybe Ms. Johnson should notify Homeland Security,  too.  Those kids carving pumpkins have knives!

5.  Perhaps the single most offensive allegation by Ms. Johnson is that the farm’s  Facebook page “includes photographs of a child’s birthday party that was held”  on January 22.  Ms. Johnson believes that a party of eight 10-year-old  girls on a family farm is subject to her regulatory purview and is cause to  threaten county citizens with fines up to $5,000.

Ms.  Johnson has shut down, or attempted to shut down, political fundraisers on  residential farms for lack of a permit.  The farm owners could have sued  her and the county under 42 U.S.C. 1983 for violating constitutional rights  under the color of state law.

Ms.  Johnson, the menace, wasn’t fired or sued for her imperious view of her power  versus her limited view of people’s rights on private property.  That’s a  shame.  Now, she’s attempting to fine a county resident for holding Boy  Scout jamborees on his property.

Not  all victims of Ms. Johnson’s lawbreaking are wealthy enough to assert their  rights through civil actions.  And that’s how bureaucrats build on their  arrogant lawbreaking.  They bully citizens who are good, mind-their-own  business types, or who lack the resources to file suit.

Other  Fauquier County officials, of course, should be ashamed of what’s  happened.  In the meantime, county citizens are forming a new organization  to protect family farms.  They’ve seen what happens when they wait for  politicians or judges to actually stop government lawbreaking.  They’ve  learned that to protect rights, citizens need to do it on their own — and in  numbers.

Read more here.

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Anarchist in Chief

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Posted by J. Andrew Reid via Tea Party Nation

The Constitution is the law of the land. It was approved by the Continental Congress and ratified by the States. It is the document by which the States agreed to be bound together as the United States of America.   It is a fairly simple document but loaded with wisdom. The Constitution was controversial when introduced because many rumors and fears circulated about the meaning of this or that portion of the document. The Ferderalist Papers (sic) were a series of 85 articles  promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. There is no reason to be in doubt of the intent or meaning of the document because the Federalist Papers explained the logic behind and the meaning of most everything in the proposed Constitution.

The Constitution is the document which provides the structure and powers of the Federal Government and provides a mechanism called amending to make changes or additions (amendments) to the document. There is no other way to change or supersede the Constitution. The Federal Government was structured in three branches each with stated duties and powers and a list the qualifications for persons who will serve in them whether elected or appointed. None of these branches or the officeholders therein can alter the Constitution on their own. Not the President or even the Supreme Court.

If you hear someone say that the Constitution is imperfect, that it is a living document or is just not relevant today, beware because that person is either a fool or trying to deceive you.  The Constitution was written to govern man based on the Founders knowledge of human nature which has not changed for two thousand years and is every bit as valid today as it was when written. There can be no valid argument that the document is outdated because there is and has been a way to amend the Constitution but Congress has not sought to do that except on rare occasions, they would rather ignore it. Why, you ask?

The Constitution is not easy to amend, it requires a vote of 2/3rds of the Congress and then must be ratified by 3/4s of the States. The reason for this is that our form of government derives its power from the consent of the governed so a super majority of those affected must agree. Those who would would trick you with the notion that the Constitution is out of date want to change your rights in some way by simply convincing the majority party to vote for some Bill that says you do or do not have the right to birth control or some other notion they have concocted.

The Constitution gives the Federal Government certain enumerated powers which are the only powers that it has, all other powers are reserved to the States or the people. The Federal Government was designed to have as little impact as possible when it comes to your private life. The Constitution still says that but it has been ignored by your elected officials who have all sworn an oath to protect and defend that document and then turn right around and vote for bills which grant government powers that the Constitution says it does not have. Nothing, no one trumps the Constitution. If you don’t like what it says you must amend it and the people must, through State Legislatures, approve. If you violate the Constitution you violate the highest law of the land.

There was no way to pass ObamaCare without ignoring the Constitution because that legislation requires powers not enumerated by it but 60 Senators did vote for the bill and the President did sign it in spite of their oaths of office. It does not matter whether you agree that we should have National Health Care or you do not, trading your Constitutional Rights for healthcare is a deal made with the devil and brings you one giant step closer to complete loss of your freedom. This is not the first time Americans have been faced with such a trade. During the Revolution some people feared that we had picked a fight we could not win and suggested that we apologise to the Crown and put ourselves at its mercy. Bejamin Franklin (sic) famously said “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” That is good advice but I fear many will not heed it.

Your God given, inalienable rights are what every member of our military has fought and died for since the Revolution and much of that was traded for a promise of healthcare for the uninsured; a promise that may not even be possible to keep! What should our troops think of us when they come home from protecting our Constitution with their lives and sacred honor only to find out that we have traded away their rights and there is not even a job for them to come home to? We have failed them and ourselves by becoming complacent about the duty that freedom requires of us all.

The healthcare bill is not the only time the Constitution has been ignored. That has been going on for a hundred years or more, long enough that members of Congress seem comfortable in admitting that they pay it little attention to it when legislating. It has gotten so outrageous that some feel the Federal Government can do most anything in spite of the fact that the Constitution is still the law of the land; the same document that limits Federal power. Congress and presidents have assumed unconstitutional control over our lives to the point where they have taken authority over what our children can eat for lunch and, if ObamaCare cannot be repealed, over your life or death if you are over seventy and show up at a hospital with a life threatening medical condition.

In addition, we are constantly assailed with reports of courts that ignore the law and rule based on their view of how the world should be even if it means using laws of another nation or religious group and has even gone so far as to hold us and our military accountable to the laws of our enemies. As if all of this was not overwhelming enough, last week a recognized law enforcement agency in this country declared that it has probable cause to believe that the documents submitted by our current President to prove his eligibility to run for and hold the office are fraudulent.  Probable Cause means they can issue an arrest warrant if they can put a name to the crime.

A press conference was called to announce that there was sufficient evidence to arrest someone for the crimes of forgery and fraud and despite the fact that every news outlet imaginable was present, almost no one thinks it worth a minute on the national news. Meanwhile what does make the news is coverage of the “Occupy” movement, peopled by anarchists, socialists, communists and others who would advocate the overthrow of our government and who does this same president support? He supports the anarchists.   It would appear that our current President and Congress have more in common with the anarchists than they do with the people they took an oath to govern according to the Constitution and that consent of the governed has ceased to be part of the equation.

As in all states where anarchy begins to rule, things are going down hill quickly. The 2012 election may be our last opportunity to route the anarchists from government and save freedom for the world. We have allowed the Anarchist in Chief to go way too far already. No matter who the Republican nominee is we must get behind that person and work our hearts out. Once we get rid of the Anarchist in Chief we will have to keep the Republican’s feet to the fire. There will be no rest for the governed for many years because the Constitution needs our protection if we expect it to protect us!

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