A word of advice
*A talk given on 22
April 2016 in Spokane, Washington to the Spokane Citizen’s Alliance
for Property Rights by Jim Beers.
I think it is worthwhile to introduce myself though there are folks
before me that I recognize from previous visits to Washington State.
I say “worthwhile” because over the years I have come to realize
that audiences are, for me, like those blind men in the fable where
they encounter an elephant. One feels the ribs and says, “The
elephant is like a wall”; another feels the leg and says, “The
elephant is like a post”; and yet another feels the trunk and says,
“The elephant is like a snake”. I am often described as, “the wolf
guy”; some think of me as, “that whistleblower”; still others see me
as “that guy that explains things about government and bureaucrats”;
and a few even spread the word that I am, “that guy that helped us
stop some of the abuse we were suffering under a government we no
longer recognized”.
What I am is a boy that grew up loving the outdoors so much I went
to college for a degree in Wildlife Resources and then spent over 50
years working in a vocation I love. I worked for a state wildlife
agency. I am retired from the US Fish and Wildlife Service where I
was a Wetlands Biologist, Special Agent, Wildlife Biologist, Refuge
Chief of Operations, Program Analyst, and Congressional Fellow. I
even spent half a year as a Minneapolis Police Recruit. I was
stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City and
Washington, DC. I travelled extensively to Europe both as a Special
Agent investigating smuggling and as a Wildlife Biologist on a State
Department Negotiating Team and a US Trade Representative Working
Group dealing with fur commerce and trapping issues between the US
and EU.
There are five reasons for you to consider me a friend and someone
worth listening to:
- As a lifelong
wildlife student, I am very familiar with the truth about
wildlife management and how it can enhance or destroy human
communities.
- As a career
bureaucrat, I accidentally spent over 25 years in Washington, DC
from 1974 to 2000. This is the period when all the
environmental/animal “rights’ laws and excesses took hold and
federal bureaucracies and politicians began using them for their
own benefit and the current destruction of rural America and
Constitutional rights, began.
- As a “whistleblower”
I exposed the theft of +/- $60M by federal bureaucrats from
state wildlife program funds to capture Canadian wolves and
release them in Yellowstone National Park to infest the Upper
Rocky Mountain States and the Pacific Coast States, something
that Congress had refused to authorize or fund.
- Perhaps most
importantly, I was threatened with firing, loss of my federal
health insurance, and loss of my pension for five years by USFWS.
Additionally they (unbeknownst to me) had called the Police
Department and told them I was being fired and “may be
dangerous” when they had only threatened me with accepting a
transfer. At the time I had three (VA, MD, & DC) gun permits
since I was working a part-time private security job with 3 kids
in college. At work people were jumping off elevators I was on
so as not to be seen with me. After my retirement (and a large
payment of hush money called a “settlement”) I attended a former
colleague’s funeral where a large number of USFWS employees and
managers were in attendance. I was shunned and no one would even
sit with me at the luncheon after the funeral. My point? I have
no lingering attachments to federal colleagues or my former
employer.
- In the 16 years
since my “retirement” I have written over 1600 articles, spoken
to over 75 groups throughout the nation and helped several dozen
citizen groups fight government over-reach involving
environmental and animal extremism and bureaucratic chicanery.
I want to
share with you a word of advice, but first you might ask, “Advice
about what?” My answer is, “Advice about the concerns inherent in
your group title, Spokane Citizen’s Alliance for Property Rights”.
That title suggests concerns about:
- Constitutional
Property Rights as spelled out in the 5th Amendment.
- Government
bureaucracies that are increasingly dismissive of private
property rights using claims of “Critical Habitat”; “Scenic
Views”; “Viewsheds”; Plant & Animal locations and populations;
EPA Watershed Jurisdictional claims; Public land closures
eliminating rural economies and rural “domestic Tranquility;
government land acquisitions; government collusion with radical
groups to purchase property easements and modification of
regulations and rules with decisions from “favorable” judges
that jeopardize and “take” private property.
- The loss of revenue
and authority at the Local (County) level as a direct result of
federal absorption of State authorities and jurisdictions
coupled with increasingly destructive bureaucratic regulations
and enforcement.
- State politicians
and bureaucrats that increasingly treat state residents and
their concerns like they are from another country.
- State bureaucracies
that increasingly appear to be little more than subcontractors
for federal bureaucrats and radical Non-Government
Organizations.
- Federal, and
increasingly state, politicians that are unresponsive to
government harms, and immune to any responsibilities for their
actions and inaction because their support for re-election comes
from way beyond your State political district, your State or
your Congressional District. Therefore you are increasingly
unable to hold them accountable or get them to consider
necessary reforms and actions.
Note that I am not
mentioning you directly or your high-priority concerns specifically.
It would be the height of arrogance for me to come here today and
say I have the answer to your issues. The best I can do is tell you,
you are not alone and your issues are everywhere in this nation in
different manifestations. Also, keep in mind that there are
currently Education, Infrastructure, Defense, Tax and other very
similar national issues perking in the national political picture
with their own groups like yours wondering how did this happen and
what can we do? Lifting our particular concerns out of this national
morass should always be done with an eye to the larger national
picture of concerns, causes, and the search for remedies.
In other words, I want to speak about the Disease and not the
Symptoms.
So let me share with you but a few of the most recent issues I have
been involved in or have learned about. Then let me give you some
things I strongly believe must be changed and that promised “word of
advice”.
Some Current FEDERAL Abuses of Citizens and
Civil Government
- A Court has directed
the USFWS to take into account global warming forecasting and
re-open efforts to List the wolverine under the ESA. The
far-reaching and extremely variable (historically) presence of
this weasel promises to dwarf the impacts and potential
un-Constitutional claims this latest critter to be “saved” will
generate at the expense of, particularly, rural Americans living
in the West. Global Warming “science” is debatable (the kind
word) and flimsy at best, using it as a “forecasting” tool for
government actions and Draconian enforcement and “takings” is
like using play dough to build girders for a bridge because the
Contracting Officer goes to the same church as the play dough
manufacturer.
- Federal Campaign
Finance laws and reporting continue to exempt the millions of
“contributions” from Native Americans to federal politicians.
Casino lobbying (both for and against to prevent competition) is
coupled with cooperation with government and radical groups to
stop select rural developments off reservations and using
reservations as islands outside state and local control for
animal introductions. The effect is not only to make federal
politicians (Natives are exempt from State and Local Authority)
eager supplicants for lobbying support but also to enable
further exemption of Native Americans from laws that reputedly
affect “all Americans. When a Native American shot and killed a
wolf recently in Northern Minnesota his only punishment was to
be better educated by tribal officials. Had I been that
perpetrator, I would have been jailed, fined and possibly lost
my hunting, fishing, trapping, voting and gun rights. In my own
state (Minnesota) unlimited gill netting by Native Americans all
over the State has destroyed and is destroying game fish
populations (and fishing) in lake after lake. As cabins and
resorts become less and less attractive to owners, they are put
up for sale at decreasing prices and then bought for pennies on
the dollar by Native American Reservations using casino money to
transfer private property worth billions to (or back to if you
are Native American) permanent Native ownership. The dots to
connect are Tribes/Casino $’s/Federal Authority/Unreported
Political Support/Pliable and AWOL State bureaucracies
responsible for fishery management using fishing license
funding.
- Federal politicians
and federal bureaucrat-appointees continue to try every way but
the right way (a repeal of the 2nd Amendment) to destroy the 2nd
Amendment. Fast and Furious documents, 5 years later, are still
being withheld. Agencies like the ATF and bureaucrats like
Department of State bureaucrats and the Secretary of State that
were secretly negotiating a UN Treaty on Small Arms (to subvert
the 2nd Amendment) at the time are as free as birds and still
honored “public servants”.
- The Supreme Court
has ordered the EPA to take into account the cost to industry as
required by law, of its recent regulations on Mercury that are
contributing to the bankruptcy of coal plants and the subsequent
increase in energy costs and damage to already-struggling
economies like West Virginia and Southern Ohio. However, the
regulations are to remain in effect while the costs are
developed and provided as they should have been to begin with.
This of course assumes the lawfully required data generated is
factual, relevant and can reverse the process already put in
place. As always, everyone involved will get bonuses and “atta’-persons’”.
- A Florida court has
questioned the ESA challenge by USFWS of County Management and
Land Use Plans. Nothing, nothing is safe before the tyrannical
power of the ESA. “Required” Plans are only “required” for
everyone but the federal government. Compliance only applies to
federalwishes because State and Local governments only exist to
serve federal demands. This complete independence of federal
employees is no better demonstrated than by the recent
destruction of the freshwater ecosystem of SW Colorado Rivers by
a massive spill of mine effluent discharged by EPA bumblers; and
act that if done by a corporation or private citizen would have
resulted in jail, fines and permanently destroyed families and
lives.
- Asian (Silver,
Bighead, Black and Grass) carp continue to destroy Midwestern
Rivers and to threaten the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest Lakes
and their fisheries. The fact that the federal government
ignored the importation of these Asian carp to clean commercial
catfish ponds for 30+ years while simultaneously being charged
by the “Injurious Wildlife” sections of The Lacey Act (an 80+
year-old Act) with putting them on the Injurious Wildlife List
and preventing their importation is being cleansed from the
history books. A recent Wall Street Journal article blamed
“European carp that were imported in the 1880’s for ‘sport’
fishermen” while ignoring the recently arriving Asian carp for
all the destruction and mayhem. When I explained this to the
author (an Australian living in Australia) he said he had to
rely on “data from the US fisheries (?) Department” and he, “was
sorry that I didn’t agree with them”. Note that I grew up,
fished, hunted and lived on an Illinois River (the Fox) that had
a large European carp population in a diverse and healthy river
environment. He said he was advised by a Minnesota professor
that European carp were really the worst carp and “more money”
was needed. As always everyone involved gets a bonus and an “atta’-person’”.
Additionally, remember the USFWS is always seeking federal
“Invasive” Species Authority which they describe as needed for
killer bees, kudzu and zebra mussels but in reality will
complete their arsenal of supreme authority for the final jihad
on brown trout, pheasants, chukars, muskies in the South,
striped bass in reservoirs, hunting, fishing and rural life in
general as well as to seize the final remnants of ANY remaining
STATE authority and jurisdiction beyond issuing driver’s
licenses in accord with federal requirements as the federal
campaign to establish a “Native Ecosystem” (no matter what) goes
into the next higher gear.
- A word about wolves
is in order. I see all the current “returning wolf management to
the state” as a purposeful diversion akin to “compensation for
wolf damage” and “non-lethal wolf control”. That is to say, they
are ploys to undermine any opposition while the problem gets so
entrenched; it is no longer amenable to acceptable remedies.
All of the benevolent “returns” of wolf management are in accord
with federally-approved State Management Plans; in other
words, the feds impose the wolves and then out of the kindness of
their hearts let you fulfill their wishes at your expense much like
that motto over WWII concentration camps, “work will set you free”.
During this Presidential election year no federal bureaucrats would
ever admit that the process wasn’t set in stone and working. The
whole thing (like “compensation” and “non-lethal” control) was
worked out behind closed doors by bureaucrat sympathizers and
radicals using focus groups to allow the wolves to spread with
minimal opposition. Take my word; given the next extremist-friendly
Administration and political environment, lawsuits and “science”
will get a “favorable” judge to rule that the “returns” have to be
nullified or “re-negotiated” in accord with new standards to
increase wolf densities and ranges while hunting and state wildlife
program revenues increasingly go the way of the Passenger Pigeons
and Dodoes.
There has never been sufficient federal or state funding to truly
compensate for “livestock losses”due to wolves or other
predators to say nothing of dog losses or the loss of a child. Even
if by some miracle, one year there was; does anyone really believe
that year after year as other demands are made that funding for some
rancher who shouldn’t be raising livestock in “wolf country” will
receive any help from urban elites that control state and the
national purse-strings?
The same goes for “non-lethal” wolf control. Wolves have been
the terror of history and down to the present day precisely because
they are, like Bowser at home, smart and adaptive. The fact that
these are not naturally-occurring but animals introduced and
protected by federal bureaucrats at the behest of urban radicals and
unjust laws meant to solidify politicians in office emphasizes the
dramatic turn that government has made and is making today.
Livestock and dogs are easily-taken prey for 100-150 lb. predators
that prefer fresh meat and need lots of calories. Especially when
they have reduced big game animals (most smaller animals take as
much calories to catch as they can give one or more hungry wolves);
livestock and dog (watchdog, hunting dog, herding dog, pet dog, show
dog, etc.) losses will necessarily mount and any one believing that
any “non-lethal” control is effective longer than a wolf or wolves
can figure it out has never dealt with wolves in “human country” day
in and day out or simply read ancient accounts and current records.
As an aside here, I was reading a book about
GK Chesterton on the flight from Minnesota to Seattle to speak here
in Spokane. In that book about 10 pages were devoted to Mrs.
Chesterton’s Diary entries from their 2 month residency in Jerusalem
in February and March of 1920: It was unusually cold and wet weather
and she notes, “it had not snowed in Jerusalem since 1910”. Those of
you that have ever visited Jerusalem know that the surrounding
countryside is rocky with spears vegetation suitable only for sheep
and goat grazing and with very sparse wildlife. Her entries:
Feb. 9th. “Still raining and turning to snow.”
Feb. 10th. “Woke up to find deep snow.” “Impossible to go out.” “The
railway system has broken down.” “Snow over two feet.” “In some
places snow drifted deep enough to bury a man, and in some places,
alas, it did actually bury little children; poor little Arabs whose
bodies were stiff where they had fallen.”
Feb. 11th “Wolves appeared in the German Colony (where German
officers lived outside the walls during WWI while allied with
Turkey) and a party had to go out and drive them off” (my
underline).
What made those wolves appear was the scent of dead bodies, “those
little Arabs” Mrs. Chesterton mentions. That is just like the
English-speaking French policeman that was part of the detail
guarding that recent Lufthansa crash in the Alps caused by the
German pilot that locked the cockpit door and then for murky reasons
flew into the Alps and scattered the plane, passengers and luggage
over a vast area. The French policeman was asked if they were seeing
any “looters”? He said no but there were many wolves scavenging for
“food” all over the crash site. Those hapless passengers on that
flight, like those “little Arabs” should be remembered when
bureaucrats, “scientists” and ideologues tell you that wolves are no
threat to the elderly or particularly little children.
Topping all this; wolves kill and eat children and adults every year
in Asia where historic densities are uncontrollable. As the wolves
grow in the settled landscapes of The Lower 48 States and now Europe
with government protection; deaths and attacks will increase and you
must ask yourself, “Who is responsible?”
- The never-ending
saga of federal bureaucracies, Native American governments and
radical environmentalists destroying the Klamath Basin
agriculture and rural communities; just like the California
water rights’ takings for “Endangered” smelt are each going
straight towards the same result as “saving” spotted owls in
Oregon and “protecting” wolves in Minnesota. That is a
diminished Local government voice; diminished Local economies;
diminished quality of rural life; and a loss of private property
and private property values.
Some Current STATE Abuses of Citizens and
Civil Government
- A remnant wolf
population survived in Minnesota for over a century under state
management until federal law (ESA) and state acquiescence to
federal mandates “protected” the wolves in the 1970’s. As the
Minnesota wolves increased with federal protection, moose (long
known to be particularly vulnerable to and preferred by wolves
from Minnesota and all of Canada westward through Alaska and
Asia to Norway, Sweden and New England) decreased and moose
hunting dwindled and was finally closed 3 years ago for lack of
moose. The State wildlife agency blamed (and blames) “global
warming”, “ticks” and “unspecified diseases” but “definitely NOT
wolves”. They ask for money to “study” the problem. Now
Minnesota deer hunters in the same “wolf country” are concerned
about dwindling deer and deer hunting success. So the wildlife
agency “knows” it is due to “tough winters” (in Minnesota) and
again, definitely not wolves. What is worse; state agencies that
cover for such radical wildlife maneuvering - or a general
public that believes and tolerates such perfidy?
- Speaking of
Minnesota (where I live), two months ago the state wildlife
agency was caught trying to introduce a lead shot and bullet ban
on public lands purchased with license revenue and the Excise
Tax on Arms and Ammunition. They had tried to put the regulation
into effect without notifying the State Legislature or holding a
Public Hearing as required by law and they had avoided both in
hopes of putting it into effect with the least opposition and to
make any objections “too late”. There is no data to indicate a
problem with lead anywhere in Minnesota and the only
justification seems to be to further aid anti-hunting radical
groups in yet another step in discouraging (higher costs, loss
of traditional family heirloom guns for hunting, and another
public relations piece for the media to blacken the reputation
of hunters and hunting) hunting. The result has been a fiasco
for the state bureaucrats and the radical groups they were
working with. As always, there were bonuses for all and a lot of
“atta’-‘persons’” to go around.
- A news release
crossed my desk last week showing a picture of a familiar face
speaking with two radical environmentalists in Oregon. The
familiar face was the retired National Park Service
Superintendent of Yellowstone. This is the guy that worked with
USFWS to release the wolves into Yellowstone with stolen funds.
This is the guy that has been spouting all the nonsense about
wolves creating a “trophic cascade” of willows and aspen that
never occurred. This is the guy that Supervised employees that
told visitors that the elk and moose they hoped to see were “in
the back country” when in fact the moose and 80+% of the elk had
been eaten by the wolves. This is the guy that boasts about
Supervising Everglades NP that has become an overgrown morass of
unmanaged native and non-native vegetation with disappearing
native animal life being replaced with boa constrictors,
pythons, feral cats and feral hogs. This high-payed bureaucrat
and well-payed pensioner is the Chair of the Oregon Wolf
Commission where he can babble incessantly about “cascades”,
“compensation”, and “non-lethal control” until he finally
wanders off to some gated community or estate on some
billionaires’ ranch as a “reward” for his “service.
- Florida State Parks
manage some beautiful and busy barrier Gulf Island beaches. Bird
areas are marked and violators are prosecuted. The Audubon
Society sits on the Park Management Advisory Board in a premiere
position. When Florida Parks received millions from the BP Oil
Spill Settlement they gave over a Million to Audubon to design
and conduct a Bird Disturbance by Humans Study. They both
claimed (without any data) that two species of Plovers (neither
in any danger) were reproducing poorly due to human disturbance.
The study was childish, it was not peer-reviewed and the state
park had never (and seemingly would never) implemented predator
controls, a serious threat to Plover nest and young Plovers on
those islands. Here was Audubon on the Advisory Board, getting
money from the State agency to research wildlife (without any
use of the state wildlife agency) to justify steady reduction
and elimination of public use on a State park that was purchased
many decades ago and locally supported to provide public
recreation and sensible wildlife resource management. Conflict
of interest; NGO power through government (like Defenders of
Wildlife wolf power through USFWS); and a State Park agency
harming the residents and interests of those that approved and
have supported the Parks for decades are one and all the
ingredients of our modern government “stew” much like the “eye
of newt” used by the witches in Macbeth to evoke sinister
mayhem.
- As I was composing
this, a news release came across my desk about some Counties in
Texas campaigning for Texas to secede from the Union. If there
are folks in a very strong State’s Rights’ state like Texas
rumbling about secession due to what harms I do not know, what
must the real feelings be like in the rest of, especially rural,
America in states where urban governments rule like Illinois or
California?
A Few of the
Major Problems
- “Science” in
University curriculums and Departments has been corrupted by
federal dollars that require “data” and statements that support
radical government actions and laws to take property and
restrict human activities. Wildlife, Forest and Range Management
have been replaced by climate speculation and a rejection of any
and all human “footprints” anywhere outside designated urban
enclaves. As Goethe observed in Germany early in the 19th
century, “Most men only care for science so far as they get a
living by it, and that they worship even error when it affords
them subsistence.”
- Federal and state
resource agencies no longer hire or promote employees committed
to proactive resource management and use consistent with human
welfare and the Constitution. As a consequence, such graduates
are no longer educated in the Universities or available for the
workforce.
- Politicians have
discovered how urban majorities respond positively with votes
and financial support to environmental laws and regulations that
“feel good” to busy and guilty (about what Europeans “did” to
America) urban organizations while oppressing rural Americans.
Environmental and animal “rights” extremism emerged in the
1960’s as a political issue embedded in the social turbulence
(anti-war, “free” love and drug use) and rioting that drove
President Johnson from office. Subsequently:
- founded the EPA,
signed the Endangered Species Act and several other major laws
while running for reelection and as Watergate caused his
resignation.
- (in 2 years as he
prepared for election) signed off on 40 more new laws and
Expansions of
federal bureaucratic authority and still lost to Carter.
- signed and expanded
sex and race classifications and discrimination programs that
soon eliminated historic requirements for federal positions that
impeded government sex and race goals and bonus payments to top
administrators resulting, in large measure, in the current
federal bureaucracies’ radical views and limited abilities.
◾ “Sagebrush Rebellion “ reduced the federal expansion by
eliminating policies and rules while leaving the roots
(Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Wilderness Act, et
al), in place.
HW Bush did a “Lite” version of Nixon and Ford by appearing
“sensitive” to “the environment”.
- appointed, promoted
and hired many radical bureaucrats that kept their views quiet
as they stole money from state agencies, introduced wolves and
strived to implement more restrictions on rural Americans and
create more power for federal bureaucracies.
GW Bush kept
Clinton appointees on the payroll and, like his father, used “Marine
Sanctuaries” and ESA Listings as either diversions or as favors to
Republican extremists and “the environmental vote”. One Clinton
appointee held over was named Director of USFWS in the Obama
Administration.
- has used Executive
Orders, UN documents as faux “treaties”, Listings, Closures and
expansions of federal power with abandon. His unitary approach,
coupled with an AWOL opposition in Congress has raised the ESA,
USFWS, USFS, BLM and EPA and their shenanigans to new and
formerly inconceivable heights.
- State politicians
and bureaucrats are increasingly submissive to federal
bureaucrats offering future jobs, federal funding and a place in
some sort of Brave New “Environmentally-Conscious” World.
- The growth in power
of radical environmental/animal “rights” organizations allied
with federal bureaucracies is a threat to America’s future.
Now if my litany of
current abuses by federal and state governments plus the few major
problems I just mentioned sound familiar; I’ll bet you once read the
Declaration of Independence. Reread the part after those first two
paragraphs; the part about, “the Facts submitted to a candid world”
about the “King of Great Britain” and “the establishment of an
absolute Tyranny”. Substitute Congress for “Parliament”, President
for “King” and just keep “Judges” and “Governors” as they are and
then just insert as many of the “Abuses” and “Problems” I have
mentioned in place of “Quartering large bodies of troops” and
“Imposing taxes without our consent” and “obstructed the
Administration of Justice” or just keep those original ones that are
applicable today. Congratulations, you have just written a modern
Declaration of Independence on Earth Day of all days!
Like it or not, we have reached a similar point wherein our
government is oppressive and violates both our “unalienable” and
Constitutional rights and we find ourselves asking, “What can we
do?” Like our forefathers we must choose between somehow working
within the system that created the situation or opposing it with all
our might just like our forefathers in 1776.
What needs to be changed:
- Laws that oppress
minorities like rural Americans must be amended or repealed.
- Federal and State
Administrative Rules must be reviewed and re-oriented to a role
Subordinate Toand nor equal to or greater than Legislation.
- Government land
ownership must be reduced.
- Political Parties
that actually oppose each other should be restored.
- Government land
control and environmental authority for anything other than air
quality and interstate waters should be first and foremost set
by Local governments and protected by state governments.
- Government
landholdings should be subject to Local and State jurisdiction
and Local/State taxing authority should be reviewed and
considered.
- State and Federal
bureaucracies should be reduced and budgets reduced accordingly.
- Federal laws like
the ESA and CWA et al should undergo thorough reviews with
public input and be either seriously amended or repealed keeping
in mind how Prohibition (the 19th Amendment) was repealed and
how despite Reagan’s efforts a nascent bad law that is not
eliminated will always arise later to begin more abuses like
some “Son of Frankenstein” Grade B movie.
- Constitutional
compliance should be the barometer for amending or repealing
current laws and should be explained for any new legislation.
- Bureaucrat authority
for writing legislation must be greatly reduced and regulations
reduced overall.
- Politicians that
ignore their authority over or their responsibility for rogue
bureaucrats should be prosecuted where possible and/or declared
ineligible for re-election.
- The “under the color
of law” defense for criminal bureaucrats and criminal government
actions should be reduced dramatically.
- Federal
responsibilities for National Defense, Foreign Relations and
Interstate Commerce should be re-emphasized. Popular election of
US Senators should be re-converted to appointment by the State
Legislature by repealing the 17th Amendment. The repeal of the
17th Amendment is necessary because current Senators (very
powerful politicians approving Treaties, judges and all manner
of legislation because of their unique role) do not “represent”
(they actually harm with abandon) “their” State and they are
unresponsive to residents of their State because they get their
monetary, media and other support from national and
international organization of all stripes that keep them in
office. When they are appointed by your state legislature You
can threaten your state legislator (truly responsive to you) to
not reappoint a rogue US Senator or else! Your state legislator
fears your wrath and is not in the pay of national and
international interests that do not share, or indeed wish to
destroy, your interests.
- State authority over
Local governments should be like a Father’s responsibility over
an almost grown son; that is to protect him and encourage his
strengths and protect him from his weaknesses while seeming to
ignore him.
- Local governments
should have as much leeway as possible from State governments
while remaining in compliance with the Constitution and
Constitutional legislation.
•In other words, the federal government should protect and
nurture the states; the states should protect and nurture the
Local governments; and Local governments should protect and
nurture the communities, businesses and families within their
jurisdiction. For instance, no animals should coercively be
placed in nor any Constitutional activities forbidden without
the consent of the Local government and the acquiescence of the
state government.
I don’t claim this list is comprehensive, but it
is a start.
The Word
The word I want to leave you with to reform the politicians, the
bureaucrats, the Laws, the Universities and the NGO’s that are
whittling away your rights as I speak is COALITIONS. Begin thinking
in broader terms. Think about Coalitions with and between:
- Sheriffs.
- County officials and
their organizations.
- States.
- Hunters.
- Ranchers.
- Professors and
Scientists.
- The young and the
old.
- Teachers.
- Media Outlets and
owners.
- Rural Business
Groups.
- Dog Owners.
- Gun Organizations.
- Urban Lobby Groups.
- Tax Groups.
- Outdoor Retailers.
- Hunting, shooting,
trapping, etc. lobby groups.
- Groups opposing the
power growth of the UN.
- Hardware and
Equipment businessmen.
- Cattle/Sheep
Associations and Organizations.
- European
Counterparts of all of the above facing similar issues.
- Use your imagination
and don’t be discouraged.
Your aim should be to
“pushback” bad laws and miscreant bureaucracies; not to “get along”
or “leave that until later”. None of us can rest when dealing with
protecting our rights and liberties from those that would take them
from us.
Frank Knox was Alf Landen’s running mate on the Republican ticket
opposing FDR in 1936 when national concern was creating animosity
much like today between the parties. In 1941, when Germany invaded
Russia, there really was no longer any doubt for all but wishful
American thinkers that we were going to soon be in a war against
Germany. When Frank Knox, a true opponent of FDR, told the President
in private he would whatever he could “from shouldering a rifle on
up” to help in the coming War; FDR made him Secretary of the Navy.
That is an example of coming together in coalitions for a common
cause when you see a threat to our Nation.
A great war (WWII in Europe) was won with military alliances or
coalitions (in which some were bad persons with bad causes) under
the leadership of General Dwight Eisenhower. General Eisenhower had
a gift in using only a few words that could carry a great deal of
truth. The following is from a speech he gave as his second term as
President was coming to an end. It is often referred to as his,
“beware of the military industrial complex” speech.
I have taken the liberty of placing certain phrases of President
Eisenhower’s speech in parentheses to be replaced by my own phrases
in bold letters that I believe say what I want to say to you far
better than I ever could:
“This conjunction of an immense federal
environmental bureaucracy
(military establishment) and a large
international environmental/animal rights lobby
group (arms
industry) is new in the American experience. The total
influence -- economic, political - even spiritual -- is felt in
every city, every State house, and every office of the Federal
government. We recognize the initial
justification (imperative
need) for this development. Yet we must not fail to
comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and
livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our
society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition
of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
bureaucracy/environmental
(military/industrial) complex. The potential for
the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our
liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for
granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the
proper meshing of the rich and powerful
environmental organizations
(huge industrial) and
the natural government desire for power and authority
(military machinery of defense) with our peaceful
methods and goals, so that human
prosperity (security)
and liberty may prosper together.”
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thank you for giving me
the opportunity to speak to you today.
Jim Beers
22 April 2016
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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
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