Sunday, July 13, 2014

Protecting Your Way of Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness


For centuries, those who raise, breed, and work with animals have been revered and lauded for what they do. Today, across America our rights to own and raise animals are under attack by animal rights activists and their increased influence on government and non-government agencies overseeing issues pertaining to animal welfare.  This onslaught regularly violates protection from illegal search and seizure, and a citizen’s right to due process of the law; all of which are outlined specifically in the U.S. Constitution.

The rule of law provides that Americans are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law based upon facts and evidence, not emotion and conjecture. Unfortunately for animal owners today, the opposite is prevalent.  Animal rights activists use false claims of animal abuse and anonymous tip lines to convince over zealous prosecutors and sympathetic judges to issue warrants when, in most cases, no facts or actual witnessed evidence is provided to obtain the warrant.

As a result, animal owners and animal related businesses live with the daily terror that fraudulent claims, anonymous tips, or an animal rights activists’ internet-campaign could result in law enforcement arriving at their door and their animals seized without due process. Coupled with this real fear, animal owners are then exposed to extravagant animal care bonds and charges for temporary animal care, possible sterilization of high value breeding stock, or euthanization of their animals.
  
These instances become a big payday for animal rights activists and their organizations as they raise big money from these circumstances, and often times confiscate and sell, or in their words, “rescue and adopt out,” the private property of the accused who has not yet been adjudicated in a court of law.  These are real possibilities before the animal owner has their day in court.

In many actual instances, the rush to judgment fueled by animal rights activists results in destroyed property, bankrupt businesses, and reputations that are damaged whether they are found guilty or not.

At the end of the court proceeding, if the accused is found not guilty, the activists, prosecutors, state or local government, and the judges all get to walk away with no legal or financial ramifications.

The property owner, even if found innocent, is liable for the cost to house his animals for months or years in some cases, coupled with the destruction of their business and reputation.

The severity and the regular occurrence of these abuses of our Constitutional rights strikes fear in the hearts of animal owners and animal related businesses across America, who know that their livelihood and animals are threatened by the very real possibility of illegal search and seizure or false claims of animal abuse.

The animal rights based organizations have made their ideology no secret, and daily they express their desires and promote their strategies in plain view to nudge public opinion to their point of view.  It’s no stretch to figure out what they intend to accomplish with their policies when one realizes that the truth behind the veil of their exploitation of animals is the abolition of animal ownership and a vegan agenda for all.

Most Americans are unaware that this abuse is taking place.  Either that, or they are willfully blind to the impact that the animal rights extremists are currently wreaking havoc on all animal related businesses and animal owners across our nation.

To add insult to injury, many of the associations organized to promote and represent farmers, ranchers, and pet breeders are ushering in animal rights politics and policies by allowing a façade of compromise and agreeing to unnecessary, onerous, prohibitive, and costly regulations at the expense of fewer farms, fewer farmers, and higher food prices.  All of which are the intended consequences on the animal rights extremists.

Furthermore, many rural Americans are unaware of their Constitutional rights, and are often railroaded through a bureaucratic system that defies common sense and standard agricultural practice in their systematic to attempt to regulate and inspect commercial animal enterprises.

Notwithstanding the animal rightists goal of terrorizing animal owners and destroying animal related businesses, the Achilles’ heel of the animal rights movement is the historic principle that animals are property, and that private property is protected under the fundamental foundation of our U.S. Constitution -- further reinforced under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. 

Our Founding Fathers' fundamental motivation behind the constuction of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution was the protection of private property and its direct link to Freedom and Liberty.

John Adam's words made it clear, "Property must be secured, or Liberty cannot exist."  

And more than one hundred years later in 1909, William Howard Taft's words still hold true today, “Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”

Our sincere hope is that Americans wake up before it’s too late, and recognize that any individual or entity operating to usurp ownership of private property can and must be stopped by the recognition, comprehension, and protection of our U.S. Constitution.

Meanwhile, The Cavalry Group will continue to be on the frontlines to protect our members, their animals, and animal enterprise. Join us in the fight! 

Mindy Patterson is the president of The Cavalry Group, a member based company protecting and defending the Constitutional and private property rights of law abiding animal owners, animal-related business, hunters, and agriculture concerns legally nationwide.