There is a conflict between the right and the left about unalienable rights and what exactly that entails. Some on the left believe, for example, that health care and housing are rights that should be given to all, while the right argues that these are privileges that should not be given, but earned. Most conservatives and many liberals also believe that the right to bear arms for self protection is a right, though there are opponents who argue that allowing guns in America actually leads to higher crime and the world would be better off without them.

Regardless of where you stand on these issues, one place where there should be absolutely no discussion regarding what protections we have not just as American citizens, but human beings, are our natural rights to produce our own food, harvest our own water and our ability to transfer these in the form of barter, trade or charity amongst consenting parties.

In Federal Food Police Coming Soon to a Farm Near You, Tess Pennington outlines the federal government’s efforts to restrict the production of food on family farms, not just for commercial resale, but personal consumption. Though regulators deny that this is the stated intent of the statutes, it is clear that the letter of the law will essentially give federal agencies the ability to shut down your backyard vegetable garden if they feel the need to do so. Why would federal or local law enforcement move to shut down your personal garden? Arguably, for the same reasons they set up an innocent citizen on his own property for legally firing a rifle – just because they can.

The production of food is very much a natural right, and no matter how much large corporate interests want control of global manufacturing and distribution, this is one area which the government should not and cannot encroach.

In the 21st century, however, it seems that the rights of the people are secondary to corporate profit and government control.

And it’s no more obvious than when we look at what some governments around the U.S. are attempting to do with the acquisition and collection of water. Like food, water is an absolute natural right without which we would perish in a matter of days.

According to Mike Adams of Natural News, several states have moved to control the rights for not just the water under your property, but above it as well.

You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from “diverting” water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

source

The argument from government is that rainwater refills reservoirs and is used for the greater good. A valid point, if only it were true. Adams points out that roughly 97% of all water that falls to the ground as rain is either evaporated or seeps into the ground and is absorbed by plants, which means that only about 3% is actually used for human consumption.

Individuals and organizations in local communities are now fighting asinine water harvesting restrictions because they are… how should we put this… ridiculous on their face and a gross and direction violation of our very right to life.

The very idea that somehow government, be it global, federal or local, owns the rights to water falling by way of natural forces into a cup or barrel on your own property indicates that government literally believes the sky is the limit. For more proof of this, look no further than the proposed cap & trade legislation, which looks to further restrict human beings by literally taxing their right to breathe.

We’ve come to a point in our nation where our very lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness are being targeted by big government.

Ol’ Remus of Woodpile Report sums up our thoughts below:

“…there are those in government who believe life and liberty are unequal and negotiable, that they are assignable, that formerly equal guarantees can be preferentially distributed in service of a value system. It is here, with this notion of a latter day nobility, that the legitimacy of the central government ends.”

source: Life and Liberty

How can we consider a government to be legitimate when the very things we need for our survival – food, water, and air – become their domain?

Until such time that a corporate interest or government can demonstrate to the people how they are directly responsible for water accumulation and formation of a specific cloud, the movement of said cloud to a specific area of the earth and the triggering of rain from that cloud, they have no jurisdiction over our ability to collect and harvest the resulting rainfall for our personal benefit and survival.

Video: Who Owns the Rain?

Update 07-28-2010 1017 CST:

Portions of the above story were based on rain harvesting restrictions in the state of Utah, as well as other western states. KSL TV 5 of Salt Lake City Utah reports that as of July 2, 2010 the law banning rainwater collection in the state has been modified to allow for personal harvesting and storage with a limit of 200 gallons of above ground storage and 2500 gallons of below ground storage. Utah residents should be thankful that their benevolent government has allowed them to enjoy limited protections under natural law.