Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

July 2, 2012

Whenever bureaucrats ?register? something, they have eventual confiscation in mind. This is true of gun registration. An even more acute example is provided by Selective Service registration, a process that envisions the ultimate confiscation of the entire person in the service of the State.

Bearing this principle in mind, it?s worth asking: Why does the State of Utah want to register privately owned gardens?

The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is sponsoring an initiative it calls the ?Utah Garden Challenge,? through which the agency is trying to entice 10,000 gardeners in the state to ?come forward and document their gardens.?

According to the UDAF, ?The 10,000 Garden Challenge is an example of the local movement for sustainable agritourism and living.? ?Sustainable? is a term of art that grows out of the UN-centered Agenda 21 initiative, which if implemented would require regimentation, by administrative bodies populated with wise and far-seeing bureaucrats, of all human interactions with the natural world.

The initiative refers to independently grown food as ?an important resource to the state? ? a phrase through which the state agency implicitly asserts collective ownership over private property.

 Right now, the state is inviting participation, and offering small incentives; at some point, will it insist ? and impose ?penalties? for non-compliance?

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.