In the green hills of Cheatham County, Tennessee, a story unfolded that should inspire every American who believes government must serve the people, not rule them. Country music star John Rich didn’t set out to become a champion of property rights, but when the Tennessee Valley Authority set its sights on his community, he proved that even the most powerful federal agencies can be defeated when citizens stand together.
The TVA (that massive federal beast created in 1933) decided Cheatham County was the perfect place for its latest project. It wanted to build a 900-megawatt methane gas plant complete with 14 turbines, 10 acres of lithium storage tanks, and pipelines snaking through farmland and waterways. Never mind that this rural county of 41,000 souls had voted 75% for President Trump. Never mind that generations of families had worked this land, built their lives here, raised their children here.
The TVA had bigger plans.
But here’s where the story gets truly outrageous. The TVA didn’t just file paperwork and hold public hearings. They sent armed officers onto private property under blatantly false pretenses, claiming they had permission from a man who had been dead for ten years. Picture this scene. Twelve vehicles rolling up to an 88-year-old woman’s farm, land that had been in her family for over a century. Personnel in bulletproof vests, carrying loaded weapons, confronting an elderly woman with dementia who had no idea why this small army had invaded her property.
As one neighbor who witnessed this governmental assault told John Rich, “It just made me feel like I didn’t live in America that day.”
But John Rich refused to let this stand. He could have stayed quiet, protected his celebrity status, and avoided controversy. Instead, he did what free Americans must do when government overreaches. He fought back. Rich leveraged his platform, his connections, and his voice to expose what the TVA was doing. He took the fight directly to President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Rich then captured tyranny in a song. “The Devil and the TVA” captures the essence of this battle with one unforgettable line – “You think you own something, but you don’t own nothing.” Those words, inspired by that 88-year-old woman’s defiant confrontation with federal agents, became a rallying cry for property rights across America.
The result? Complete victory. The Tennessee Valley Authority, faced with growing opposition from the community and pressure from the highest levels of government, backed down entirely. They announced that Cheatham County was no longer their preferred site. As Rich declared, “They pulled out under threat.”
This victory proves something crucial. When property owners stand united against government overreach, they can win even against federal agencies with seemingly unlimited power. But it also reveals something darker. Without property rights, government sees citizens not as free people but as obstacles to be bulldozed out of the way.
Property rights are fundamental to liberty and preserving a limited government.
There is a simple truth that our Founding Fathers understood but that too many Americans have forgotten. If you don’t have the right to own property, you have no rights at all. Property rights are not just about land and buildings. They are the fundamental check on government power that makes all other freedoms possible. When government can seize your land at will, tax you in perpetuity for the privilege of ownership, or force unwanted development through bureaucratic manipulation, you are not a free citizen. You are a subject.
This is not abstract political theory. Across America today, critical battles are being fought that will determine whether property rights (and by extension, all our rights) survive the assault of an ever-expanding government. These battles reveal both the threats we face and the victories possible when free Americans refuse to bow to tyranny.
John Rich's Victory Over Government Bullies
In the green hills of Cheatham County, Tennessee, a story unfolded that should inspire every American who believes government must serve the people, not rule them. Country music star John Rich didn’t set out to become a champion of property rights, but when the Tennessee Valley Authority set its sights on his community, he proved that even the most powerful federal agencies can be defeated when citizens stand together.
The TVA (that massive federal beast created in 1933) decided Cheatham County was the perfect place for its latest project. It wanted to build a 900-megawatt methane gas plant complete with 14 turbines, 10 acres of lithium storage tanks, and pipelines snaking through farmland and waterways. Never mind that this rural county of 41,000 souls had voted 75% for President Trump. Never mind that generations of families had worked this land, built their lives here, raised their children here.
The TVA had bigger plans.
But here’s where the story gets truly outrageous. The TVA didn’t just file paperwork and hold public hearings. They sent armed officers onto private property under blatantly false pretenses, claiming they had permission from a man who had been dead for ten years. Picture this scene. Twelve vehicles rolling up to an 88-year-old woman’s farm, land that had been in her family for over a century. Personnel in bulletproof vests, carrying loaded weapons, confronting an elderly woman with dementia who had no idea why this small army had invaded her property.
As one neighbor who witnessed this governmental assault told John Rich, “It just made me feel like I didn’t live in America that day.”
But John Rich refused to let this stand. He could have stayed quiet, protected his celebrity status, and avoided controversy. Instead, he did what free Americans must do when government overreaches. He fought back. Rich leveraged his platform, his connections, and his voice to expose what the TVA was doing. He took the fight directly to President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Rich then captured tyranny in a song. “The Devil and the TVA” captures the essence of this battle with one unforgettable line – “You think you own something, but you don’t own nothing.” Those words, inspired by that 88-year-old woman’s defiant confrontation with federal agents, became a rallying cry for property rights across America.
The result? Complete victory. The Tennessee Valley Authority, faced with growing opposition from the community and pressure from the highest levels of government, backed down entirely. They announced that Cheatham County was no longer their preferred site. As Rich declared, “They pulled out under threat.”
This victory proves something crucial. When property owners stand united against government overreach, they can win even against federal agencies with seemingly unlimited power. But it also reveals something darker. Without property rights, government sees citizens not as free people but as obstacles to be bulldozed out of the way.
The Endless Tax (Why You Never Really Own Your Home)
While John Rich is fighting federal land-grabbers in Tennessee, Governor Ron DeSantis is waging a different but equally important battle in Florida. He is fighting to end the perpetual taxation that makes true property ownership impossible.
DeSantis understands something that too many politicians ignore. Property taxes are not just another form of taxation. They are a fundamental assault on the concept of ownership itself. As DeSantis puts it with crystal clarity, “Property taxes effectively require homeowners to pay rent to the government.”
Think about that for a moment. You save for years, maybe decades, to buy a home. You make every mortgage payment. You hold the deed in your hands. You own your property “free and clear,” except you don’t. Not really. Because every year, for the rest of your life, you must pay the government for the privilege of living on your own land. Miss those payments, and armed agents will show up to take away everything you’ve worked for.
This is not ownership. This is feudalism with a modern face.
DeSantis isn’t just talking about reform. He’s taking action. His immediate plan provides $1,000 property tax rebates for over 5.1 million Florida homeowners, but that’s just the beginning. He’s working on a constitutional amendment for the 2026 ballot that would eliminate property taxes entirely, making Florida the first state in the nation to truly protect property ownership.
The philosophical foundation is unshakeable. As DeSantis asks, “Do you think it’s fine that you buy property, you buy a home, you own it outright, free and clear, and yet you have to continue to pony up money to the government just for the courtesy of using your own property?” The answer from every freedom-loving American should be a resounding no.
Critics whine about how local governments would fund services without property taxes, but that misses the point entirely. The question isn’t how government will get its money. The question is why government should have the power to confiscate your property if you can’t pay perpetual tribute. True ownership means the right to keep what you’ve earned, not the obligation to rent it back from bureaucrats year after year.
DeSantis represents a growing national movement. Florida joins other states where citizens are demanding an end to property tax tyranny. The message is spreading. If you never truly own your property, you are never truly free.
Tennessee's Annexation Loophole
Tennessee thought it had solved the annexation problem. While Oregon pioneered the first statewide urban growth boundary system in 1973, Tennessee followed suit in 1998 with its Growth Policy Act, creating urban growth boundaries to control sprawl and prevent municipalities from competing through predatory annexation. For years, this system worked reasonably well, keeping development focused and protecting rural property rights.
Then in 2017, Senator Jack Johnson made a calculated political decision that undermined these protections. He sponsored Public Chapter 399, which allowed municipalities to annex “non-contiguous” properties within urban growth boundaries. This wasn’t an accident or unintended consequence. Johnson knew exactly what he was doing, deliberately creating new opportunities for municipal expansion that would benefit developers and municipalities at the expense of rural property owners. The result has been a predictable acceleration of the very problems the original system was designed to prevent.
Here’s why this seemingly technical change represents a fundamental threat to property rights.
Under the original system, municipalities had to grow organically, expanding outward from their existing boundaries. This created natural limits and forced cities to develop infrastructure in logical patterns. Non-contiguous annexation destroys these natural barriers, allowing cities to leapfrog over unwilling property owners to grab the most attractive development parcels wherever they exist within the urban growth boundary.
Non-contiguous annexation allows municipalities to cherry-pick the most valuable properties for development while leaving counties responsible for the infrastructure that serves them. Cities can grab a prime commercial or industrial site, reap the tax benefits, and leave the county to maintain the roads, bridges, and services that make that development possible. This creates a “privatize the profits, socialize the costs” scenario that fundamentally violates property rights principles.
Most insidiously, non-contiguous annexation creates pressure on rural property owners who find themselves surrounded by municipal development but not annexed themselves. They lose the rural character they sought while potentially facing pressure to develop their own land or sell to developers who can seek annexation. Their property values may be artificially inflated by speculation, making it harder for their children to inherit and maintain family land.
Non-contiguous annexation encourages exactly the kind of sprawling, leapfrog development that destroys rural communities. Instead of orderly growth outward from city centers, development jumps around the landscape in whatever pattern serves municipal tax collection best. This creates isolated pockets of intensive development in previously rural areas, destroying the agricultural and rural character that property owners invested in and expected to preserve.
The tragic irony is that this system was supposed to support economic development, but it actually undermines the property rights that make true economic development possible. When property owners can’t be certain about future annexation, zoning changes, or infrastructure responsibilities, they can’t make rational long-term decisions about their land.
True protection for property owners requires not just consent provisions, but limits on government’s ability to manipulate growth patterns for its own fiscal benefit.
The Foundation of American Freedom
Consider what happens when property rights are weak.
Government can seize your land for corporate projects that benefit well-connected interests. Government can tax you in perpetuity, making true ownership impossible. Government can force unwanted development around you, destroying the rural character you invested in preserving. Government can manipulate annexation rules to cherry-pick valuable properties while leaving others to bear the costs.
When any of these things happen, you discover that you are not a citizen with rights. You are a subject whose possessions exist at the pleasure of the state.
But when property rights are strong and properly defended, the relationship between citizen and government returns to its proper order. Government becomes what it was always supposed to be. It becomes the servant of the people, not their master. Property rights create a zone of genuine ownership where families can build, invest, and plan for the future without fear that bureaucrats will upend their lives for political or fiscal convenience.
Property rights are indeed king, because without them, we are all subjects. Government exists to protect the rights of property owners, not to override those rights for bureaucratic convenience or corporate benefit. When government forgets this fundamental truth, free citizens have both the right and the duty to remind them, just as John Rich did in Cheatham County, just as Governor DeSantis is doing in Florida, and just as Tennessee must do to fix its annexation laws.
If we lose property rights, we lose everything. If we defend them successfully, we preserve the foundation upon which all other freedoms rest.
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Gary Humble
Gary Humble