BIO
Charles Baker – at the beginning of the story a young farmer struggling to make a living for his family. His solution is to purchase a large farm and to sell off small parcels for residences and use the income from these sales to pay down the debt on the farm. He believes that no one has a right to tell him what he can do with his land, especially the “land barons” who have, inherited, not worked for, their property.
ON GROWTH
"I mean that’s what the whole nation’s been from the time they built the first fort...that was developing. I don’t care how you look at it, they went in there and picked out a spot and put fort there and that made a difference. A whole town grew around it. And with our population growing the way it’s growing and everything as fast paced as our world is, you have to be realistic at the same time and not dwell in the past....That’s why I don’t mind being called a developer...I’m trying to look into the future to see that farm that’s five miles out of town right now that looks like it’s in the boonies, is going to be town 20 years from now. It’s just going to be, but most people haven’t seen or don’t want to remember or haven’t paid enough attention to what’s happened around them....they don’t pay attention to the progress that’s going on around them. Until it effects them and their backyard. Then they see it and then they throw a fit. And it’s happening every day and it’s going to continue to happen. You can’t stop it. You don’t necessarily have to like it, but you’re not going to be able to stop it."
ON CLASS
"The strong opposition (to development) is from people who have lived in this county for years or that have got farms that have been in their families for years, have inherited what they’ve got. I mean I’m not saying they don’t work to make a living, but basically if you took away what they’d inherited, they wouldn’t be any different from me. They’d be out there working every day to make ends meet. And it was a hard pill to swallow to go to these meetings and you have these aristocrats standing up there screaming in your face that your greedy and that you’re ruining the county when they could have gone right down to the same sale I went to and bought the piece of property and left it sitting there."
ON RIGHTS
"I don’t think government should dictate to you what you should do with your land and if they are going to dictate to you, then they ought to compensate you for it. It’s just the way I feel about the Save the Landers. If they want to look at my farm going down the road and don’t want me to sell it, then set up a fund and put your money in it and I’ll leave it sitting right there so you can look at it when you drive down the road. If you don’t want to put your money where your mouth is, keep your mouth shut."
If you agree with Charles, explore these links:
Alliance for America - We are the true conservationists
www.allianceforamerica.org/
American Association for Small Property Owners
www.smallpropertyowner.com/
CATO Institute
www.cato.org/
Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
www.cato.org/
Center for Individual Freedom
www.cfif.org/
Defenders of Property Rights
www.yourpropertyrights.org/
The Federalist Society
www.fed-soc.org/
The Heritage Foundation
www.heritage.org/
Mountain States Legal Foundation
www.mountainstateslegal.org/
Oregonians in Action: An association of property owners working together to protect property rights in Oregon.
www.oia.org/
Pacific Legal Foundation: Rescuing Liberty from the grasp of government
www.pacificlegal.org/
Property Rights Congress of America, Inc.
www.freedom.org/prc/
