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They call themselves "moderates." Republicans like
Christopher Shays of Connecticut. Shays represents Connecticut's
4th District - a conglomeration of yuppie refugees from
Manhattan. Up and comers who have made it financially but are
still "sensitive" to the needs of whatever and whoever
is the cause of the moment.
Shays was one of those "moderates" hyped by the
media for not wanting to impeach Clinton. A man who doesn't mind
partial birth abortion, or passing one more gun control law, or
shutting up advocacy groups by instituting one more useless
campaign finance reform bill. As a co-sponsor of the
Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform Bill, Christopher Shays
imagines that what is needed to cure the problem is one more law.
Never mind that those on the books already are not enforced.
When the brain-dead of any political persuasion, point to the
"soft" money contributed to the 1996 Clinton
re-election campaign as a reason for yet another law, they fail
to realize there are plenty of laws on books. The problem was
that Clinton's chicanery was never addressed by Congress.
Democrats had too much to lose in the deal and Republicans were
too scared. Clinton's Justice department turned a blind eye and
pretended there was no problem. Just ask FBI investigator
Charles La Bella how his investigation was ignored by Janet Reno.
The same do-nothing attitude exists in the enforcement of gun
control laws.
Shays is a moderate of biblical proportions. He is a lukewarm
guy who is neither hot nor cold. A fiscal conservative, praised
by taxpayer organizations, he is otherwise a statist. He doesn't
care one wit about following the Constitution. His actions speak
for themselves. During impeachment, he was one of the Republicans
who said no. Then later said he might have changed his mind had
he known about Juanita Broadrick. No matter that there was a
sitting President who had broken numerous laws - Christopher
Shays didn't think it rose to the level of impeachment.
Nor does he care to outlaw a medical procedure known as
partial birth abortion - a totally unnecessary and barbaric
medical procedure - not to mention the ethical and moral
considerations surrounding it. He cares not for the 2nd Amendment
of the Constitution or indeed the 4th and 10th for that matter.
Additionally, he is a man who wants the U.S. to continue to
pony up more money to pay the "arrears" blackmail due
the Godzilla of government bureaucracies - the United Nations.
Never mind we already have spent billions or continue to carry a
disproportionate load while our military careens around the world
implementing U.N. policy.
His latest gambit speaks volumes about the elitist nature of
his core beliefs and those of most moderate Republicans.
Americans ought to be outraged by the likes of Shays. But they
are not. They don't listen and more importantly, they don't hear
or understand.
In a recent interview with the Heartland Institute's Environmental
News Shays opined about his bill, the Northern Rockies
Ecosystem Protection Act (H.R. 488): "I'm trying to create
as much public land as possible. I would love it if 60 percent of
Connecticut were owned by the government in wilderness." The
article continues that it would be difficult converting
Connecticut to government-owned, off-limits-to-man wilderness. He
said: "It will take some time to reclaim what is now
privately owned land in Eastern and Midwestern states."
That is why he said he is supporting making land off-limits by
starting in the West. He has proposed legislation which would
designate lands in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and
Wyoming as wilderness and components of the National Wilderness
Preservation System. The bill would severely restrict mining,
logging, road maintenance, and all use of motorized vehicles
except snowmobiles; though, eventually, their use would be halted
too. The amount of land this bill will confiscate is three times
the size of Connecticut.
Before he leaves office, Clinton plans on appropriating more
lands to federal designation as he did in Utah, with the 1.7
million acre wilderness designation of the Escalante Staircase.
Bruce Babbitt has already stated that more confiscation - whoops,
designation - will occur. Babbitt maintains this land will
be confiscated i.e. designated with or without congressional
approval. Millions of acres in the West are going to be off
limits to human use - but this time they are going after the East
Coast as well.
Clinton's legacy will consist of stealing land to create a
giant out door museum and soul-mate Shays will be one of the
curators. However, don't for a moment think this will
be "public" land. The perfidious notion that
"public" lands is what it purports to be shows how much
the American public has been bamboozled. There is very little
"public" about it. Restrictions are going to keep you
and I out of it. Unless you are a card-carrying member of the
Sierra Club or one of the other environmental - last home of
socialism - green groups or other approved elites.
To find out what happens to these so called "public"
lands - ask the people who live in the areas affected. Ask the
people of northern Minnesota who have trouble getting permits to
get on their own Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Ask the people of
the Western states who are being run out of business because of
an elitist quasi-religious view of the environment.
The good people of Connecticut need to remember how things
work. "First they came for the gypsies, then they came for
the Jews, then they came for the Catholics, but what was that to
me -- until they came for me."
You know what a Judas Goat is? It is a dumb animal who leads
the unthinking "sheep" to the slaughter. Are
Christopher Shays and other moderate Republicans the Judas goats
of our times?
Diane Alden is a research
analyst, writer, historian and political economist. She writes a column for
NewsMax.com, Etherzone, Enterstageright, American Partisan,
KeepAndBearArms.com and many other online publications. She also does
occasional radio commentaries for Georgia
Radio Inc. Reach her at wulfric8@yahoo.com. |
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