by Jim Beers
Regarding guns, federal officials: rail against the 2nd Amendment; argue in court that there is no right to own a gun; sell guns to foreign killers then claim a need for gun control; secretly negotiate and then a sign a UN Treaty requiring gun control; issue Executive Orders limiting gun possession; and constantly campaign in the media and to states and others receiving federal grants that guns must be banned and only “allowed” for those few the federal government chooses.
Regarding water: under the Commerce Clause (Article 1, Section 8) of the US Constitution the federal government has jurisdiction over only the “Navigable Waters of the US”. For the past three decades federal officials have: attempted and failed to pass a law that would grant federal authority over “All Waters of the US”; write regulations claiming The Clean Water Act grants such authority; argued in court that they have jurisdiction over “All Waters” from intermittent streams to groundwater; continually used the implicit coercion in federal grants to force state and property owner acquiescence to federal power claims; and worked closely with radical environmental organizations that oppose property rights and the use of water and other renewable natural resources for human benefit.
Regarding wild animals, federal officials claim absolute power over animals to: close irrigation districts, farming communities, fishing areas and power grids based on dams; forcibly interject dangerous, deadly and destructive animals like wolves and grizzly bears over vehement local objections; eradicate valued animals like elk herds, moose, brown trout, pheasants and Great Lakes Salmon to be replaced with dangerous and destructive animals like Free-Roaming buffalo, jaguars and poisonous snakes.
Imagine a rural America where residents are unarmed when the nearest law enforcement is hours (or in some case days where federal animal claims destroyed logging that destroyed local tax revenue that made County law enforcement a joint matter with other Counties to the great danger of citizens in need of help) and the back door is being kicked in at 2 AM or a wolf is killing your dog in the yard or a grizzly bear is looking in your dining room window as you eat a family holiday dinner or a rabid coyote invades your homestead.
Imagine a rural America where (just like Obamacare lawmakers, coming “death panel” bureaucrats, and Presidential promises about Keeping doctors and insurance) federal politicians and their bureaucrats control “ALL” the water on, nearby and under your property whether intermittent or constant. Imagine water use for drinking, bathing, working, pumping, irrigating, watering, livestock, cleaning, etc.; controlled by a federal bureaucrat in Washington who determines (just like despite federal health care promises) whether you current water use rights and practices (like your doctor or insurance policy) is “adequate” or meets changing federal requirements.
Imagine a rural America: where animal husbandry resembles the tiny herds watched 24/7 by women and kids as in Asia; where no can keep a dog because wolves or bears kill them and animal diseases become rampant; where game animals and other wildlife are seldom even seen; and where children can no longer go camping or fishing or hiking without constant adult oversight.
These three changes alone are intended to make Rural America into a sort of sci-fi snapshot of desolation and hopelessness. Add in the ongoing federal land acquisition; crony capitalism between government and radical organizations like the Defenders of Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy; the abandonment of the management and use of public lands; the use of government-funded easements and Declarations (Heritage Site, Scenic River/Byway, UN Area, etc.); and numerous other government schemes and you have a rural America where Local governments are no more and fewer and fewer people can or will be able to live and work.
One final consideration: what can be done?
One Political party is wholly committed to the destruction of Rural America. The other, positions itself as an alternative, but is it? This alternative Party, when in power, either leaves in place all of the changes noted here or simply keeps changing things at a slower rate. When asked why, they reply that they “must” do what people want or they will not get elected. While this is like the famous black humor Vietnam quip about destroying the village in order to save it, it is far worse because it is dishonest, not true and allows the destruction of Rural America to continue.
President Nixon was President for five years. In that time he signed into law: NEPA; CEQ; the EPA; the Clean Water Act; the ESA; the Marine Mammal Protection Act; the Animal Welfare Act; the Coastal Zone Mgt. Act; the Estuarine Areas Act; the Fur Seal Act; the Land and Water Conservation Fund; the Wilderness Act; and UN Treaties to “save” Polar Bears & Antarctic Seals and enact Oppressive Control of International Wildlife Commerce and shipments. So what is his legacy?
Q. Did his Party take control of the House or win the next Presidential election? A. No! Q. Did the environmental/animal rights voters remember him like Gaylord Nelson or Aldo Leopold? A. No! Q. To this day, has any national politician run on a platform of reversing the destruction of Rural America? A. No!
Reversing what is threatening Rural America is no small task. However, to date it is reminiscent of GK Chesterton’s observation in his 1910 book, WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE WORLD, to wit, “The Christian Ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
What Rural America needs today are more men like The Founding Fathers, not more “Lite” versions of the forces they purport to oppose.
Jim Beers
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Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net