The Chinese have made numerous efforts over the years to weaken the United States from within itself. It begins with these Confucius Institutes on college campuses nationwide, and more recently, has culminated in them buying up American farmland. They have bought tons of acreage, especially here in the State of Texas.
To better mask their efforts, they are now buying rural American marijuana farms, and for the time being, cashing in on cannabis legalization in states like New Mexico, Maine, Colorado, and others.
Jared Woodfill of Conservative Republicans of Texas says this becomes problematic for many reasons, but the biggest is food.
"This is vital infrastructure...our farmland is vital. Most people appreciate the fact that food security is national security, and if we do not stop this happening right now...we simply turn our supermarkets and food supply over to the Chinese government," he says.
To our North in Oklahoma, they have shut down over 1,000 pot farms since 2020, and of those, between 80-percent and 90-percent of them have ties to Chinese crime rings.
The food is not just where the problems start, though. We know China to be a massive exporter of fentanyl to the United States, which is killing more Americans every day.
"They are subsidizing a huge drug problem here...marijuana is a gateway drug to other drugs...so to have the Chinese government here buying farmland and using it to grow marijuana...that is not good for our society as a whole," he says.
These small farm purchases are keeping them under the radar, but they are buying up more farmland here than ever.
The Texas legislatures has taken turns at trying to combat the purchase of land by foreign entities like China. But things tend to move slowly, if at all, in Austin these days. Most of the time, these good bills go to die in the House of Representatives. But, if it is a Republican majority, why is the legislation not making it? The explanation is simple.
"The Texas House is ultimately controlled by the Democrat party...with a speaker chosen by the Democrats," he says. "They chair key committees...this is just a good example of this issue. This should have been a no-brainer."
Woodfill says Speaker Dade Phelan is beholden to the Democrat party now, after they helped him to his current position. Therefore, these pieces of good legislation will continue dying there.
One thing is clear though. If we do not stop this purchasing soon, we may be more reliant on China than we want to be.
Photo: E+