By ‘Leviathan’ we mean that monstrous merger of the federal government with giant corporations that menaces so many of our lives here in the United States, and also in countries abroad.

First up, a rather significant win for Red State lawfare – ESG investing is on the run:

We have been covering the full on implosion of ESG and “green” investing for the better part of the last 6 months and today, the wreckage continues.

That’s because mega-bank JP Morgan has officially left a $68 trillion investor coalition that is “focused on pressing the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to decarbonize,” according to Bloomberg.

In other words, the “fight” to decarbonize is imploding.

. . . And the damage for the Climate Action 100+ may only be getting started. Lance Dial, a Boston-based partner at law firm K&L Gates LLP, told Bloomberg: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more defections, especially given that there’s now a cost, such as potential litigation, that wasn’t there when companies joined.”

He added: “Attorneys general have subpoenaed firms about their membership of these groups.”

. . . “The political winds aren’t rewarding climate-active firms today, but climate risk and regulations aren’t going away in the mid to long run, so short-term decisions may need to be undone when those longer term threats begin to manifest or regulators clamp down harder,” said Michael Sheren, a former senior adviser at the Bank of England who’s now a fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

“JPMorgan pulling out matters because it sends the wrong, short-sighted signal and gives cover for others to do the same,” he added.

And we’re sure they will…

We noted earlier this year, “ESG” has become a “dirty word” on Wall Street.

For some context, peak ESG and related synonyms, such as “climate change” and “clean energy” and green energy” and net zero,” among other terms, peaked at 28,000 mentions in the first quarter of 2022. Ever since, the number of mentions has rapidly plunged. Halfway through the first quarter earnings season, mentions are around 4,800.

Much praise is due to the AGs of Missouri, Tennessee, and all the others who have used their offices to protect plain folks from these Wall Street vultures.

Unfortunately, the Legislature of the very Red State of South Dakota didn’t seem to notice any of this and, under the sway of the green economy/carbon capture lobby, is in the process of undermining individual private property rights so they can score some FedGov/corporate largess:

Some of the most contentious, emotionally charged debates during the 2024 South Dakota legislative session have been about property rights and whether a private company can use eminent domain to force a carbon dioxide pipeline onto land against the owner’s will.

The heated discussions are driven by a proposal from Summit Carbon Solutions to run 470 miles of a 1,900-mile underground pipeline across eastern South Dakota. The pipe would carry liquified carbon dioxide gas from regional ethanol plants to North Dakota, where it would be stored deep underground and kept out of the atmosphere.

In all, lawmakers are weighing 10 bills related to the pipeline and eminent domain, which requires landowners to be paid for the use of their land but gives them little legal recourse to stop it.

“The core of the issue is about taking people’s lands, and it’s starting to infringe on the American way,” Joy Hohn, whose family farm west of Sioux Falls near Hartford is on the proposed pipeline route, told News Watch.

“Prior to this, our eminent domain laws were for projects that were for the good of the people and that benefit the public. But when you have an out-of-state, foreign-backed company using the threat of eminent domain in their dealings, it’s not good and people are really fired up about that.”

Kirk Yackley, who farms northeast of Pierre near Onida, said he has heard of landowners being bullied but said he had a good experience with Summit representatives.

One Red State that does seem to have her act together as it regards Leviathan is Utah, which recently enacted a robust ‘Constitutional Sovereignty Act’.  Via the Tenth Amendment Center:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Feb 7, 2024) – Last week, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed the Constitutional Sovereignty Act into law. it formalizes a process in state law to end state and local enforcement of some federal actions.

Sen. Scott Sandall sponsored Senate Bill 57 (SB57). Under the law, the Utah legislature has the authority to pass a concurrent resolution prohibiting a state or local government officer from enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of a federal directive within the state if the legislature determines the federal directive “violates the principles of state sovereignty.”

SB57 defines “federal directive” as:

• a statute passed by the United States Congress
• an executive order by the President of the United States
• a rule or regulation adopted by a federal agency;

A federal directive will “violate the principles of state sovereignty “if the federal directive restricts or infringes upon a power or a right reserved to the state by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution or the state’s rights or interests to provide for the health, safety, and welfare and promote the prosperity of the state’s inhabitants,” as determined by the state legislature.

When the legislature is convened and conducting business on the floor, identical motions to approve the request must be made in each chamber, and both motions must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the members present in each chamber. The process can also be started out of session by a request approved by the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate

The Senate approved the final language by a 24-5 vote. The House passed the final version 57-14. With Gov. Cox’s signature, the law went into immediate effect.

Leftists are predictably worried that the law goes too far in asserting State power over the federal government.  Actually, it doesn’t go far enough:  It fails to add erroneous, unlawful rulings by the federal courts to their list of potential violations of Utah’s sovereignty, which is tantamount to giving those courts the freedom to trample upon her as often as they wish.

Utah, and other States considering Sovereignty Acts like hers, should heed the wisdom of the renowned Southern statesman John Taylor of Caroline County, Virginia:

Taylor denied that “the executive, legislative or judicial departments of the state or federal governments have ever consented to the union” and therefore “no one of these departments can have an exclusive right of construing” the Constitution. The people of the states, however, in separate conventions did consent and thus possessed ultimate authority to interpret it. The obvious implication of Taylor’s logic was that the Supreme Court—as a branch of the federal government and not a party to the constitutional compact—could not be the final arbiter of the Constitution.

The citizens of each State, whether in convention, or through their State governments, or through some other means of their choosing, have the final say in constitutional controversies.  Thus, they ought not to leave any room for the federal courts to usurp that role for themselves.

But where will those in the States, whether in the government or outside of it, find the courage to do that; and more generally, to continue combating the federal-corporate Leviathan?  As with other deep, philosophical questions, it is a question of religious faith:  If our faith is truly in God (the True God revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the All-Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – and not the many false gods once again sprouting all around us), then we will be able to persevere, to overcome, as the Lord allows.  The Holy Prophet Azariah, speaking to King Asa after he and his little army had won a miraculous victory over an army much larger than theirs, establishes the foundational principles that we ought to follow:  ‘Hear me, King Asa, and all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Lord will be with you as long as you are with Him, worshiping His name and observing His commandments. When you seek Him you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will also forsake you.’

If we want to see more Red State, conservative/revivalist victories over the giant Leviathan, we must earnestly seek the Lord.