Posted on 07/01/2004 12:18:57 PM PDT by ServesURight
RONALD REAGAN, SAGEBRUSH REBEL, REST IN PEACE
by William Perry Pendley
July 1, 2004
"I am," former Governor Ronald Reagan proudly proclaimed in 1980, "a Sagebrush Rebel." Reagan's common cause with westerners besieged by a host of federal agencies came as no surprise. Forty-four percent of California, which Reagan governed for eight years, is managed by those agencies; thus, he saw hubris, hyperbole, and humor whenever a federal employee declared, "I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help you."
When Ronald Reagan was sworn in, he became the first president since the birth of the modern environmental movement a decade before to have seen, first hand, the impact of excessive federal environmental regulation on the ability: of state governments to perform their constitutional functions; of local governments to sustain healthy economies; and of private citizens to use their own property. Moreover, Reagan thought that the nation might have other, more important priorities such as repealing confiscatory tax rates, restoring the nation's moribund military, and reviving America's crippled economy.
Professional environmental groups pitched a fit! After all, they had been in their ascendancy since the heady days of the first Earth Day in 1970. Their every demand for new laws, regulations, and judicial rulings to "save the planet" was fulfilled. Vast new agencies and programs grew unimpeded regardless of the political party occupying the White House. No one had ever questioned whether all of it was necessary, could be justified scientifically, or was consistent with the nation's more pressing priorities. When Reagan did, environmental groups unleashed a vicious and unrelenting barrage.
Undaunted, Reagan pressed on. He signed an Executive Order requiring federal agencies to review proposed regulations to determine potential costs, benefits, net benefits, and other, less costly alternatives. He signed an Executive Order requiring federal regulations to be based upon scientific risk assessment procedures and to address "real and significant" rather than "remote and hypothetical" risks. He signed an Executive Order requiring that federal agencies determine the "just compensation" that would have to be paid for regulations that "took" private property for "public use," as the Constitution's Fifth Amendment requires.
Reagan thought federal agencies in the West should be "good neighbors." Therefore, Reagan returned control of western water rights to the states, where they had been from the time gold was panned in California until Jimmy Carter took office. Reagan sought to ensure that western states received the lands that they had been guaranteed when they entered the Union. Reagan responded to the desire of western governors that the people of their states be made a part of the environmental equation by being included in federal land use planning.
Facing an "energy crisis" and recognizing that "85 percent of the fuel we need...is on federally-owned property," Reagan expanded the domestic search for energy. Aware of America's dependence on foreign sources for "strategic and critical minerals," Reagan signed a national minerals policy. Desirous that "Americans who cherish the dream of owning their own home" could do so, Reagan provided timber from federal lands on a sustained-yield basis.
Reagan's remarkable legacy also includes the results of his appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1987, the Reagan Court abandoned decades of indifference to the plight of property owners by recognizing their constitutional rights. In 1990, the Reagan Court applied Article III of the Constitution to environmental groups mandating that they meet the "case" or "controversy" test to file federal litigation. In 1995, the Reagan Court held that Congress does not have unlimited power to legislate, giving the limits of the Commerce Clause new life.
As with President Reagan's courageous battle against tyranny, his fight against unwise environmental policies continues today. But also like Reagan's fight for liberty, his opponents have been forced to cede some of the battlefield. For example, the horrific fires that ravaged the West in recent years ended any real debate over whether America should actively manage its national forests. Turns out, like in so much else, Ronald Reagan was right!
BUMP
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