Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights (CAPR) is a non-partisan activist organization devoted to defending property rights. We welcome the participation of like-minded individuals and similarly purposed organizations in this noble cause. Our specific goals include:

1. Raising awareness of government activities that threaten a citizen's right to his or her property.
2. Strongly opposing those threats by persuasion, local activism or legal action, if necessary.
3. Encouraging the election of candidates committed to defending property rights as well as all our freedoms.
4. Educating the public about the concerted attack on private property by governments and Environmental NGO's.

Thanks to the efforts of the Skagit County CAPR Chapter, several short TV spots have been produced to bring awareness to the public about increasing threats to property ownership and the inherent sanctity of property rights.

(Click thumbnails to watch)

Natural Rights

Natural rights are defined as those rights granted to humans by their Creator or by their very nature as humans. These rights are not contingent on the laws or customs of any society or its government. Thomas Jefferson asserted in the Declaration of Independence that natural rights were unalienable and listed “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as being among them. Right to own property was also considered a natural right by our country's founders. Natural rights, including property rights, have been codified into the supreme law of the land by the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Prosperity

The United States has been the most prosperous country in mankind's history thanks to economic freedom, the rule of law and private property. Even our poor live materially better lives than most others in the world. However, certain elements in our society want to fundamentally change the conditions that made this country great. If you value America, your freedom and your property, it's time to wake up and get involved.

State Control

Elitists in the Government and in Environmental NGO's believe that they are better able to determine the disposition of the land and its resources than private owners. Using emotional appeals for species preservation and faulty scientific studies they have created a labyrinth of onerous rules and regulations which individual citizens, especially those of modest means, find almost impossible to negotiate or afford. The elitists' vision for the rest of us is that we should live in densely packed urban neighborhoods, rely almost solely on public transportation and dramatically downsize our life styles.

Environmental Protection

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, collectivists in the U.S. and other countries gravitated to a new cause -- Environmentalism. Not only did it give their lives meaning in that they believed they were saving the planet, but their urgency for taking immediate action to correct current and past environmental abuses, real and imaginary, conformed to their belief in top down control of the people and their affairs, and also coincided with their general antipathy to capitalism, free markets and privately owned property.

Unsustainable

In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, President George H.W. Bush signed on to the UN's Sustainable Development Agenda 21 for the United States. Basically, Agenda 21 was a comprehensive set of goals for implementing a transnational and collectivist vision for all of humanity. Agenda 21 did not have the force of a treaty, however, President Clinton established the President's Council on Sustainable Development in 1993 for the purpose of implementing Agenda 21 in the United States. What is interesting is that some of the same NGO's that developed Agenda 21's goals sat on the President's council and helped to create the regulations and rules that were adopted by federal agencies and which now have filtered down to the state and local levels in the form of smart growth and environmental policies that restrict property rights and attempt to dramatically alter lifestyle choices that aren't considered sustainable.

Are Property Rights Sustainable Too?

From Sustainable Freedom Lab. This is a powerful video that neatly ties the UN's Agenda 21 program to our federal government's social engineering efforts and anti-property rights policies. EPA funded "Envision" projects are going on across the country, not just in Skagit County.