Republican State Sen. Sandy Salmon challenged those seeking the GOP nomination for the White House on Friday. During the event hosted by Vivek Ramaswamy and Free Soil Coalition, Salmon said Iowans want to know one thing about the presidential candidates.
“We want to know who will the presidential candidates stand with — well-financed companies and political donors or with farmers and landowners and We The People,” she asked.
She called allowing eminent domain for the carbon capture pipeline project a “very important issue” and noted it has been two full years of fighting for private property rights against “powerful economic interests” who are willing to use the government power of eminent domain to seize farmland to further their own financial gain.
“In no way do I believe that this is constitutional under the Fifth Amendment or under Iowa law,” Salmon said. “It is not public use, but private use, and is therefore a violation of the Fifth Amendment and Iowa law.”
Salmon credited Ramaswamy for joining the cause.
“It is gratifying to see that we have a major presidential candidate willing to speak out and take a stand,” she said. “Hopefully this prods every other presidential candidate to take a stand. Even though this is an Iowa or Midwest-specific issue, it is a very important one. How strongly we uphold the constitutional protections of our private property rights will eventually affect the entire country.
“So it is important for a presidential candidate to weigh in with their views on this issue. Private property rights affect every one of us, not just the landowners and farmers who have had the misfortune of their land being in the way of the pipeline. If any of us has our property rights damaged, we all have our property rights damaged. It may not be you today, but it could be you tomorrow.”
Salmon said there are other countries where citizens do not have a government designed to protect private property rights.
“And those kind of countries are beset with tyranny and poverty,” she added. “A country that doesn’t protect its citizens’ private property rights has neither liberty nor prosperity.”
