Lowering The Sights

by JIM BEERS

The reason for this isn't writers block or intimidation. It isn't the lack of material or the amount of traveling I have been doing of late. The reason is the national political "ecosystem".

As an old Fed, I write about what I know and what I know a lot about is the Federal behemoth. Federal agencies, Federal politicians, national Non-Government Organization lobbying and influence peddling; and how they are all subverting State governments, crushing Local governments, and crushing Americans and their rights one at a time. It is getting harder and harder to do this without sounding like an old "whiney wart" that does nothing but complain.
Why? Because I can see no hope for any support at the federal level today.

I am reminded of that old "Carnack the Magnificent" routine on the Johnny Carson Show. Johnny would put on that silly turban and tear open an envelope and read an "answer" before Ed Mc Mahon would read the "question".
It went something like this:

Johnny: "Four dismal years for rural Americans, private property, and the ownership and use of animals."

Ed: "And the question is, 'what do we have to look forward to after the upcoming elections in November?'"

I have never been as discouraged about the federal political outlook in my lifetime. This has become unavoidably evident in the past few months as the Presidential campaigns have evolved and the current Congress has created a
track record that should appall every American.

My observations here are made through the prism of the things I write about. As much as possible I try to put aside my views on Iraq, Immigration, Taxes, Social Issues, and Health Care as I write this. Like you, these things are
more or less important than the environmental/animal rights/property rights/government abuse issues that are my concern in my writing. Based on these things, the future could not be more bleak.

Over the past two months I have confronted this fact over and over. Two months ago to write what I am about to say would have sounded like a hit piece on McCain. One month ago it would have seemed to be an attempted
intervention in the Clinton/Obama feud. During the last two weeks it would have sounded like some sort of endorsement of Nader or Barr or Ventura. Honestly, it is none of these things: it is a caution to all Americans about
a very dangerous future.

1.. Obama represents the Chicago mode of politics. Look at what Chicago political hegemony has wrought on Illinois over the past 3 decades. Gun Control, hunting restrictions, trapping restrictions, predator protection, rural dissatisfaction with burgeoning State mandates on wells and land use and rural lifestyles of all descriptions. Add in the whole racial element and you have a President that will act on behalf of urban American imaginings and urban political "machines" to repress and harm rural Americans and Constitutional Rights with impunity.

2.. Clinton will be even more radical about public land closures and animal protection (both wild and domestic) than her husband. One need look no farther than the unpunished theft of millions of hunting excise taxes to illegally introduce wolves to, among other things, eliminate hunting under her husband. Like Obama, those that are driving these radical agendas (The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, "Defenders" of Wildlife, Humane Society of the US, Animal "Institutes" of all stripes, etc.) are at heart socialists and are as influential in Democrat politics as the feminists, race mongers, and peace-at-any-cost crowd. The appointees and policies of either of these Democrats will advance gun control; federal land closure; and the elimination of hunting, trapping, fishing, ranching,
logging, animal ownership, animal use, animal and plant management, rural lifestyles, and remaining State and Local authority.

3.. McCain has a record not much different in these regards than Obama and Clinton. He has long shafted hunters and others with his Wilderness activities. He sponsored the Election Reform Act that exempted Native Americans and resulted in the Congressional slobbering for "casino" reelection money resulting in the Native American staffing in so many Congressional offices today to assure that flow. This has created a built-in bias against any non-Indian constituents seeking relief in the growing list of issues involving Native American interests. McCain refuses
to drill for oil under federal lands as we pay exorbitant gas prices. He mouths the senseless platitudes about "unique areas", "pristine values", etc. to justify no-use, no-management, and the spread of animal worship from whales and seals to races and populations of abundant species. His remarks and record to and about conservatives truly reflect contempt and an intent to cater to the forces behind the entire panoply of harmful laws and federal activities that have damaged rural America for the past 35 years. Whenever I worked with Congressional staffs to protect the Rights of Americans, neither Senator McCain or his staff ever helped or were mentioned as potential allies.

4.. Nader, Barr, Ventura and any other undisclosed hopefuls offer no hope. Even if elected: who would work with them? Who would help them repeal bad laws or sponsor new ones? Who would allow them to trim agencies and their
power? Who would fight with him as the Congress (both R & D) moves to cut his legs out from under him? Aside from any stated good intentions, their impact on the current federal juggernaut would be negligible and perhaps every bit as disastrous as the other three.

5.. The Democrat and Republican Party apparatchiks are all in the thrall of these radical environmental/animal rights groups. The Democrat Party record and agenda speaks for itself. A Republican Party caucus I attended two years ago had only one lobby group manning tables as you entered and that was full of "conservation" appeals and leaflets for more federal money, more federal land acquisition, and more federal controls. The former head of TNC is the Secretary of the Treasury. Any Bush appointees that tried to control the bureaucrats (like Congressman Pombo who tried to write some tepid reforms of the ESA) are all history with attempted smears of their records and reputations. The differences between the Parties (strangely in this era of bitter acrimony) are really infinitesimal.

6.. The Congress, both Republican and Democrat, is a disgrace. They are currently considering a plethora of Wilderness Bills and a bill to put all the BLM and USFS lands in the Interior Department and possibly in a mega- bureaucracy in the National Park Service along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The combined power of these agencies will constitute the greatest threat to American Constitutional Rights since the Cold War. The complete closure of all Federal lands (like National Parks) that would follow would be a rural disaster of enormous proportions rivaling the land seizures in rural Zimbabwe. The Congress passes laws that simply seize property rights like the recent horse slaughter ban (who "owns" a horse, anyway?) and contemplates future restrictions on exporting horses to other countries. The list of proposals for federal growth at the expense of State, Local, and Private citizen rights is enormous. The precedents being established are ignored at the peril of all Americans.

7.. States no longer protect their own, let alone Local government or individual or community rights. States merely beg for all the handouts due them from federal overseers and gladly comply with all the "strings" attached to those funds.

8.. All the "Unlimiteds" and "Forevers" and "Foundations" and "Alliances" and "Associations" that we think of as "looking out for our interests" have long abandoned "your" interest in favor of "their own interests". Money, appointments, new jobs, promotions, bonuses, trips, retirements; all depend on "playing along to get along". This "conservation-federal complex" (to paraphrase Ike) has never been as strong or extensive in my lifetime and it continues to expand exponentially as federal money carries federal desires everywhere.

So what does all this mean, other than sour grapes? It means the federal bureaucrats are salivating at the approaching election. Whoever gets in will want to "reach out"(i.e. "reward") to the urban/moderate voters that elected them. The bureaucrats are readying drawers full of proposals. Quadrupling an Army base at the expense of 2 Counties instead of from the Royal (excuse me, federal) estates. Property seizure by federal bureaucrats from groundwater to river banks from private owners; total federal ownership and control of any wet spot anywhere it may be found; federal land acquisition and closures galore; predator protection and expansion proposals; grazing and logging closures; restrictions on private property uses from land to animals; expanded wild animal protection proclamations to further restrict human uses; more gun restrictions as rural Americans face increasing crime and predator threats as State and local governments fade away; federal restrictions on domestic animals from livestock to pets. All of these "radical" actions will become easier as appointments and confirmations to the Courts by the future president and Congress reflect legal outlooks that consider the Constitution as a malleable "living" document and any thing Congress "passes" or the President's agencies writes as a regulation as "the Law of the Land,"

So if you live near Ft. Carson or near the Platte or either of it's Forks or you live or work near wetlands or you own (or think you do) animals or you use animals or you live near federal lands and their growing fire hazards or you live in New England or Florida or you live near some federal "Viewshed" or some current or potential "Scenic" River or "Byway" or any other contrived federal claim: think hard. Do whatever you can to protect your interests BEFORE this election. After any of these boys or girl gets in and after the Congress reelects itself, will be too late.

I will try to refocus my recommendations (I always try to make some positive recommendation) to State and Local solutions. It seems to me that only by explaining issues to the urban voters and reestablishing Local and State authority can we have any hope of preserving and protecting the very things that made this nation great, and incidentally the very things that the entire federal "ecosystem" is seemingly bent on eradicating today.

Our politics reflect the electorate. Politicians write and administer our laws, appoint our judges, and hire our bureaucrats. Politicians move "up" or "out": seldom "down". If we want good federal politicians we must have
voters voting for "good" government and that means being informed about misleading propaganda and "good" purposes that are too often unmentioned.

The current political environment breeds "professional" politicians. Like it or not, term limits like campaign finance "reform" have proven ineffective in restoring politicians that serve the interest of constituents as opposed their own careers. Finding solid Local government politicians to serve in State governments is the place to look for talents and values, like professional baseball teams scouring minor leagues and schools for future stars.

So forget despair about the upcoming election. Hope that four years hence we have "discovered" some politicians exhibiting talents and values that we cherish. Work with them to reform Local governments, State governments, and Local Political Party organizations. We have got to do better. I, for one, pray that the Republic can endure what lies ahead.

I will try to write more for urban voters and focus more on Local and State reforms wherever possible. Hopefully, the combination of grassroots activism and urban outreach regarding the truth about so many of these distorted ideas will put us back on track. It is the best recommendation I can come up with 7 months before the election.

Jim Beers

12 April 2008

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- Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak. Contact: jimbeers7@verizon.net

- 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 Centreville, Virginia with his wife of many decades.

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