|
THE
LAMBS WHO
TRACK THE
WOLVES
By
Floy Lilley
 |
The
Lamb family
works as a
team to
spread the
word about
freedom.
The
picnic table
is in
Merrittâs
front
yard where
the family
often meets
for
barbeques,
horseshoes
ãand what
passes for
staff
meetings.ä Clockwise
from front,
left:
Merritt,
Mark, Henry,
Karen,
KayLynn
Wilson and
Irene
Lamb.
(PHOTO
COURTESY
LAMB FAMILY)
|
When
Edward R.
Murrow
opined that
ãA nation
of sheep
will beget a
government
of
wolves,ä
and when
democracy is
defined as
ãtwo
wolves and a
sheep voting
on the
dinner
menu,ä it
becomes
clear that
sheep and
lamb are not
the same
animal. Not
when the
lambâs
first name
is Henry.
Two
shakes of a
lambâs
tail tell it
all. In the
mid-1970s
when the
Corps of
Engineers
began
claiming
jurisdiction
over private
property
under a
soggy and
muddled
theory of
wetlands,
Henry Lamb
began to
wonder just
how and why
government
thought it
had such
overweening
authority.
Henryâs
construction
company,
specializing
in erosion
control and
water
management
structures,
combined
voice with a
5,000-member
trade
association
in Chicago
to seek
answers,
only to find
that they
did not have
enough clout
to challenge
the swamp
monster. So,
the lamb
began to
shepherd a
flock of
some 17
organizations
to see this
wetland
issue
clearly.
National
cattlemen,
farm bureau,
realtors,
homebuilders
and other
natural
resource
organizations
gathered
together in
February of
1988 to
share
experiences.
Their
meeting
launched the
Environmental
Conservation
Organization,
an outgrowth
of the Land
Improvement
Contractors
Association,
as a
strategy to
protect
private
property
rights from
erosion by
excessive
environmental
regulations.
Seeking
deeper
understanding,
Lamb
attended a
Minnkota
Power
meeting in
Phoenix,
Ariz., and
had his
attention
shifted to
the role of
the United
Nations
behind land
use in the
United
States. Dr.
Sherwood
Idsoâs
active
research
into the
benefits of
enhanced
carbon
dioxide
levels in
our
atmosphere,
Dr. Fred
Singerâs
monitoring
of
atmospheric
gases, and
Dr. Dixy Lee
Rayâs
cool-headed
responses to
environmental
hysteria and
junk science
made
reasoned and
lasting
impressions.
Later, Dr.
Rayâs
personal
report from
the 1992 Rio
Earth Summit
included her
conversation
with the
leading
figure of
that
meeting, Gro
Harlem
Brundtland,
in which
Brundtland
proudly
acknowledged
that Agenda
21 was the
International
Socialist
Partyâs
agenda for
the 21st
century.
When Tom
McDonnell of
the American
Sheep
Industry in
1994 sent
Lamb the
alarming
Global
Biodiversity
Assessment,
Henry read
it through
the night.
Learning
more about
the United
Nations
became
Henryâs
mission.
Although
this author
had been
attending
U.N.
meetings
since 1991
as a
registered
member of
various
nongovernmental
organizations
(NGOs),
Henryâs
first
on-site
immersion
into the
collectivist
thinking of
global
central
planners did
not occur
until he
attended the
1996 Climate
Change
Conference
in Geneva.
He was
working as
press for
World Net
Daily (WND),
the on-line
news
organization
that prints
his weekly
commentary.
To Henry,
Geneva
revealed the
monstrosity
that the
international
body and its
76,000
employees
had become.
Absent and
uninvited
from the
U.N.
selective
and
sheltered
process were
any of the
resource
users whose
productive
lives in
Western
civilization
were to be
caught in
the vise of
a
programmed,
wrenching
transformation.
After
Geneva,
Henry
couldnât
move fast
enough to
gather Tom
McDonnell,
Bob Voight,
Mike Coffman
and this
author in
Kansas City,
Mo., to turn
our
fledgling
Sustainable
Freedom
Coalition
into our
full-fledged
Sovereignty
International,
whose belief
is that a
world of
nations in
which all
governments
are
empowered
only by the
consent of
those who
are
governed,
offers the
best hope of
advancing
the health,
happiness,
and
prosperity
of all
mankind. The
bedrocks of
such human
action are
individual
freedom,
private
property
ownership,
free markets
and national
sovereignty.
Sovereignty
International
seeks to
emulate the
reasoning of
F.A. Hayek,
who wrote
that: ãThe
system of
private
property is
the most
important
guarantee to
freedom, not
only for
those who
own
property,
but scarcely
less for
those who do
not.ÎIt is
only because
the control
of the means
of
production
is divided
among many
people
acting
independently
that no one
has complete
power over
us, that we
as
individuals
can decide
what we do
for
ourselvesâ.ä
There
is no room
for
appointed
central
planners in
Henryâs or
Sovereigntyâs
worldview.
From Kyoto
in 1997
forward,
activists
such as Tom
DeWeese,
David
Rothbard,
Phyllis
Schlafly,
Dan Byfield
and
Sovereigntyâs
own creators
worked hard.
Their work
was unveiled
in St.
Louis,
Missouri in
2000 as the
strategy of
offense that
is now
showcased
worldwide as
Freedom 21.
Back in St.
Louis for
the Second
Annual
Freedom 21
Conference,
Henry Lamb
became a
Year 2001
Friend-of-Freedom
Award
winner,
presented by
the Gielow
Family
Foundation.
Both
longtime
warriors and
new
acquaintances
honor Henry
with
awards÷even
if they are
just verbal
garlands.
Ocie Mills,
one of those
old heroes
who has
known Henry
for 30
years,
praises him
for his
ãsticking
strength.ä
Madeleine
Cosman, one
of those new
heroes who
has known
Henry for
three days,
praises him
for
ãseeing
the reality,
speaking
with
clarity, and
charting the
action that
is so
difficult
that no one
would dare
it alone,
but is so
necessary
that
everyone who
understands
will risk it
with
confidence.ä
Because
Henryâs
columns are
frequently
translated
into Spanish
and
published
throughout
Central and
South
America,
Spain,
Portugal and
Italy, no
one should
be surprised
to see Henry
receiving
awards from
foreign
places.
Canada,
Israel and
the
Philippines
have each
had Web
sites
broadcast
articles of
Henryâs.
Despite
being a
world
traveler,
for Henry
advancing
the
principles
of freedom
begins at
home.
Lambâs
family
chooses to
create
flourishing
lives
together on
a spot of
Tennessee
that Henry
calls, ãas
close as
acreage can
get to
God.ä Son
Mark, who
displayed
natural
gifts with
computers at
age 8, is
now the
ensconced
computer
guru for the
Lamb flock.
Mark, called
Adam by the
family, has
created the
only known
searchable
database of
federal
assistance
awards data,
and created
a bulk
e-mail alert
system for
notifications
to go to
250,000
subscribers
each month.
Son Merritt
with his
wife Karen
publishes
the tens of
thousands of
print
materials
needed for
eco-logic
Powerhouse
for Paragon
Foundation
and several
other
organizations.
Henryâs
wife Irene
edits and
administrates.
Friend
KayLynn is
HTML master.
This family
team is just
one part of
putting a
younger face
on Henryâs
20-year
individual
effort to
fight the
erosion of
principles
of freedom
articulated
in the U.S.
Constitution.
Others have
stepped up,
spoken
clearly and
are being
counted.
In
Reno, Nev.,
2004, the
Fifth Annual
Freedom 21
Conference
was, by far,
the best
attended and
most
productive
of all
Freedom 21
conferences
to date.
Plans are
already
underway for
next year,
with more
than a dozen
cities
proposed to
host the
conference.
Tom DeWeese,
selected to
chair the
program
committee
for next
year, will
certainly be
showcasing
the more
youthful
energies of
such
participants
as G.B.
Oliver III,
David
Rothbard,
Niger Innis,
Paul
Driessen,
Jim Burling,
Craig
Rucker,
Michael
Chapman,
Michael
Shaw, and
Lori Waters.
As DeWeese,
president of
the American
Policy
Center, sees
it: ãA
Freedom 21
conference
is for those
who want to
invigorate
constitutional
principles,
including
property
rights
activists,
Second
Amendment
defenders,
back-to-basics
education
proponents,
free market
advocates,
tax
opponents,
family
autonomy
champions,
personal
privacy
protectors,
guardians of
American
independence
and
sovereignty,
libertarians,
and those
who share a
Judeo-Christian
understanding
of the value
of
individual
human life.
At Freedom
21,
single-issue
advocates
discover the
threads that
connect
their
concerns to
all the
others.ä
The
old-timers,
the
warhorses of
the fights
to keep the
factors of
production
in private
hands, the
heroes of
Henryâs,
like Henry
himself,
will keep
applauding
the fresh
efforts and
nodding
encouragement.
Henry
remains
optimistic
and
inspired. No
sacrificial
lamb, Henry
firmly
believes
that: ãIn
another
century or
two, when
the inherent
flaws of
socialism
once again
bring
oppression
to the
people
enslaved by
it, another
John Locke
or Thomas
Jefferson
may arise,
and dust off
the history
books and
rediscover
what
Americans
forgot
during the
last half of
the 20th
century.
Although
never easy,
human
freedom will
ultimately
prevail.ä
Floy
Lilley is a
land use
attorney
with Shroads
&
Lilley, P.L.,
Amelia
Island,
Fla., and is
vice-chair
of
Sovereignty
International.
She is the
most recent
recipient of
the coveted
Veritas
Award from
American
Agri-Women.

|
Individual
freedom and
private
property
ownership
are vital
principles
for
Henry
Lamb who believes
that
governments
should only
be empowered
by
the consent
of the
governed.
(PHOTO
COURTESY
LAMB FAMILY)
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Winter
2005
Contents |
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