I have been fighting back against the onslaught of industrial wind and their excessive power lines since 2013 with the Coalition for Rural Property Rights, National Wind Watch and The Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance. A few years ago, I and a few others fighting wind met with Americans for Prosperity seeking help. They wanted us to come out against the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) along with other renewables. Because two of us farmed and sold much corn to ethanol, we declined.
Fast forward to today and I now see why I need to come out against the RFS. The RFS is keeping Iowa’s fortunes tied to the whims of the federal government. If we accept money from the government, we also accept the strings that are attached. In the case of the RFS the strings attached are industrial wind, industrial solar, excess power lines, large scale batteries, electric vehicle charging stations, and carbon capture pipelines. It is like paying $500 to receive $5.
The government needs to be removed from the marketplace. Government should not be giving anyone taxpayer money. They should not be deciding who should buy what. This is the problem with the RFS. Is ethanol a good product? Then prove it, market it, sell it. Do not let the government force the sale. No farmer I have ever met wants to be forced to do anything so don’t be involved with forcing others to buy your product.
My husband and I go around about this. He says the gas and oil companies have a monopoly, that they won’t buy ethanol. I say they will buy it if you can sell them your product for a better price and if you can prove it works better. Stop marketing ethanol as “renewable”. The Lord sows our energy wherever He wills. My husband says oil/gas companies also receive subsidies. That is correct that their subsidies have to go along with the RFS.
Imagine if we could keep all of our money instead of giving it to the government who uses it to control us? You may be imagining your money leaving with the RFS. Rather imagine the money we could save by taking away the ability of the government to award subsidies, incentives and tax credits for projects the free-market system would not support.
Any money the government receives and spends should be watched and audited as carefully as they wish to monitor our money. The government should not have the ability to write laws that gives someone’s money to someone else. Charity is a function of the church, not the government.
This is how God has designed society to function. We are not to work to get money, we are to work solely for the glory of God. Read Matthew 6:19-34. If we honor God it is He that will reward us and prosper us. Most people say they believe in God, so do the demons. What people should do is honor God. Honor God with your words, honor God with your actions, honor God with your finances. When we do this, He has given us these promises,
“Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.”
“You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” Malachi 3:7-18
Many people know that we are on the precipice of a new way of doing things in the US. We must relearn the ways of the Kingdom of God. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts. We have been doing things our way for a very long time. Now we need to tap into the wisdom of God on all things in rebuilding our country. As the Scriptures say, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Author: Janna Swanson
Janna Swanson helps her husband Paul farm in NW Iowa with their two young daughters. Since 2013 Janna has volunteered her time and energy for her community. She was a key member of the Preservation of Rural Iowa Alliance that protected landowners from the Rock Island Clean Line. From there she helped start and facilitated the grassroots group, The Coalition for Rural Property Rights to help protect community members from industrial wind installations. She is also a board member of National Wind Watch, a 25-year online collection of information of the industrial wind opposition from around the world. Most importantly Janna is a follower of Christ and seeks to help others to know and understand Him. Yet because she is also seeking deepening her own knowledge and understanding she welcomes critical, constructive debate. No one has the corner on truth, we all see “through a glass, darkly”. (I Corinthians 13:12)
