Posted on 10/31/2001 4:27:39 AM PST by George Frm Br00klyn Park
News Max / Comment Max
CARA and the NRA: From Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader
Diane Alden
Oct. 30, 2001
CARA, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act – House bill HR 701 – is a federal mega-bill that will give off-line budget monies to states and communities for their pet projects. It is in the billions of dollars and many states and communities want a hunk of it, without understanding that it is a bill that will be as destructive and pitiless as the other environmental bills have been in their application by federal bureaucracies and the mean green machine.
Like other well-meaning efforts passed by Congress – the Endangered Species and Wilderness Acts, for instance – its provisions will end by destroying basic freedoms along with that which it was meant to save.
Sadly, one of its major supporters is the National Rifle Association under the influence of board member Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. NRA board members need to be aware that the devil is not only in the details but also in how CARA is implemented as time passes. We know that past is prologue and such acts are rarely implemented as they were originally intended.
At one time there were a few congressional warriors who defended the rural way of life and vehemently defended private property, none more so than Rep. Don Young of Alaska.
However, as years passed, so did Young's efforts to stabilize and maintain his position of no net private property loss to federal or green control. Young once believed that states should have control over what happened to their land mass.
But life happens and money talks and reality bites as many idealistic congressmen and senators roll over for the juggernaut of federal land-grabbing at the behest of the new religion of environmentalism. They see it as unstoppable as some "moderate" Muslim nations view radical Islam.
Young went to Congress vowing to end the green tyranny and fight against the idea as the barons of D.C. continued to treat Western and rural states like their personal feudal empires. But over time, both Young and Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski have turned from the "force" of good and gone over to the dark side. Both will bring home pork if CARA is passed in its entirety.
There is $3 billion guaranteed money every year to buy land from "willing sellers." I've seen personally how that works – when the greens or feds want your land, they will make SURE you ARE a "willing" seller, by hook or by crook. Through intimidation and condemnation, eventually they get what they want – usually at rock bottom prices.
The problem is that Title II allows the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service to buy up private land in and around existing parks and other federal land areas. Opponents say this will lead to forced sales and possibly condemnation.
Again, I have seen it happen time and time again. In places where federal lands abut private lands, within 10 years or less those private inholders are gone and their cabins or land cleared of any trace that they were ever there.
Unfortunately, it would seem the powers that be in the National Rifle Association operate under the spell of Don Young. They want to please this longtime board member by supporting his pet bill, CARA. But as he seduces them with promises of monies for their sporting pleasure under Title III of CARA, these board members had better recall what happened to the loggers, miners, ranchers and the Klamath farmers.
Fred Grant Kelly is a constitutional scholar who practiced law for several law firms and was also an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland. He now lives in Idaho and has become an expert on land use issues. He is also consultant to the Owyhee County Natural Resource Committee and to the Board of County Commissioners regarding land use planning for the federally managed lands in the county.
Grant has been a consultant to Stewards of the Range since 1997 and currently serves on Stewards' board of directors. He is also chairman of Stewards Litigation Committee.
Kelly has tried with no success to get a hearing before the NRA board. The NRA is making a final decision about support of CARA this coming weekend at a meeting in Washington, D.C. His take on CARA speaks not only to the devil in the details but to the long-term implications:
CARA supporters do not want the American people to realize that billions of dollars will be made available for condemnation of private property. They do not want the American people to understand that these billions of dollars can be used to initiate condemnation proceedings which are emotionally traumatic and financially costly to the private property owners. They do not want the American people to understand that these billions of dollars can fund regulatory takings which force private property owners to initiate costly legal proceedings to obtain compensation for their lost property.
So, they play the "willing seller" card. And, they play it ... and they play it. They persuade the special interest groups. They hope that the public will not read the Bill and see the light. It should also be a frightening thought for all hunting and fishing enthusiasts whose national organizations have jumped on board the "CARA express." They may look longingly at the millions of dollars which will be made available through this pork barrel. But they should be thinking about the restrictions on all outdoor activities which the Audubon Society or the National Wildlife Association can bring about through their "cooperative planning and implementation" role, shored up by federal dollars. They should be thinking about how conservation organizations have fought open access and about the shut-down of access which can be accomplished through "total protection of a species or population." They should be mindful of the access which is available throughout the nation today because of the availability of private property and the cooperation of owners. When the vise is tightened under this Title, and unwilling sellers decide to "concur" with a sale, private property – private access – will disappear.
The NRA is blind to think promises to them will be kept simply because Don Young says so. Young will not always be around to protect NRA's interests.
CARA will be the tool to divide and conquer hunters and NRA members from ranchers and private property groups. It will be the tool to further the green juggernaut and anti-hunting forces. The big winners will be leftist greens and the big business of the green machine. That machine WILL take control of more and more areas of the U.S. These people are NOT sympathetic to hunters, and to think so is extremely short-sighted and foolish.
IF they tell you otherwise, they are lying to you. Government NEVER keeps its promises – ask the Indians and the farmers of the Klamath and the Hispanic small-family loggers of New Mexico. Ask the Quincy Library Group about how trust in government and the national green groups is like trusting the snake not to bite you as you clasp it to your bosom.
NRA Board Meeting and a Plea for Doing the Right Thing
The National Rifle Association is supporting CARA because of one part of the bill, Title III.
The NRA board of directors will meet from Oct. 31 through Nov. 4. Dr. David Oliver, an NRA board member, has stated that "CARA will be discussed in 2 committees – Hunting and Wildlife Conservation and Legislative Policy. Hopefully, it will be referred to the full Board, which should discuss it on Sat., 3 Nov. and Sun., 4 Nov. For most of the Board, this will be the first time CARA has ever been discussed. A policy to support CARA has never been set by the Board of Directors."
As of this moment there have been hundreds of resignations from the NRA over this issue, and there will be more if CARA is passed.
I have read anguished letters from some of these people who have been NRA members for decades. But the elite board members like spokesman Wayne LaPierre and James Baker, head of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, are not listening to them.
Many members have attempted to get the attention of board members Oliver North and Charlton Heston, to no avail.
The seductive sound of NRA lawyers and Don Young tickle their fancies, making this all about money for wildlife and more areas for hunting.
These are vacant promises. The NRA board members should not listen to this nonsense. It's as meaningful and sincere as a young man looking for a one-night stand.
There are notable exceptions opposing CARA on the NRA board of directors. Joining board members and thousands of regular NRA members condemning CARA is NRA board member Mr. Taxman himself, Grover Norquist.
Norquist's fight against the tax system is legendary. His stand on CARA is courageous and right. He maintains: "For the Record, and if anyone is doing a vote count. ... I am strongly opposed to CARA and have testified against this anti-property rights, anti-taxpayer legislation in the House of Representatives."
Other NRA board members in opposition to CARA are rock star Ted Nugent; Sheriff Printz of Ravalli County, Mont., who successfully challenged the Brady Bill all the way to the Supreme Court; Rep. Barbara Cubin of Wyoming; Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho; and G. Ray Arnett, past president of the NRA and assistant secretary of Fish and Wildlife under Ronald Reagan.
Others not on the board of the NRA against CARA are Henry Lamb, Chuck Cushman, Mike Hardiman, Helen Chenoweth-Hage, journalists John Lankford and Tom Childs, and a host of other folks who see the connection between the unconstitutional land grab that CARA represents and their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
If the NRA wants to honor Young, give him another legacy. Build him a statue in Fairbanks. Honor him with an endowed chair at Harvard, Princeton or Yale, but whatever you do, do not support CARA.
You could honor the Constitution and all our rights by working to rescind some of the wilderness designations under the Antiquities Act that have turned Alaska into a colony of Washington, D.C. Allow the people of the various states to use their own resources to improve their future potential.
The states of the West and Alaska are NOT the property of some guy who lives in Connecticut – they belong to the people who live in the state of Alaska or the other Western states under assault.
By the way, that assault has moved eastward as well.
I make my pitch to the NRA: Please join the fight to keep the entire Constitution intact. Join together with your brothers in the private property movement.
Combine your efforts to protect your Second Amendment rights with the important rights of private property. Without private property, the other rights are moot anyway. Do not betray the right of individuals and the states to hold on to what is left of private land.
CARA is one more stab at the heart and spirit of the principles contained in the Constitution. CARA will do absolutely nothing in the long run to "save" the land, but will further erode the Constitution.
CARA goes against Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution. Never mind the provisions of CARA – I thought the NRA was about maintaining the Constitution and the Second Amendment. Maybe not.
Hanging on to one small part of the Constitution is not enough anymore. ALL of that document matters or none of it matters.
I ask the NRA to throw its considerable weight for freedom, the Constitution and the thousands of people who will lose it all if CARA passes.
I pray there are still 'Bravehearts' among the NRA.
The NRA members of the board need to show the courage of free men who are not so immersed in their own causes and issues that they cannot see the bigger picture. It is about freedom.
To find out more about CARA, visit my website at www.aldenchronicles.com. You can reach me through that site or at alden@newsmax.com.
***
Diane Alden is a research analyst with a background in political science and economics. Her work has appeared in the Washington Times as well as NewsMax.com, Enterstageright, American Partisan and many other online publications. She also does radio commentaries for Steve Myers' show on Liberty Works Monday and Friday mornings, and can be heard regularly on Mike Fleming, WREC in Memphis.
THIS Story at News Max / Comment Max
The least I want to see is a backing of title III, while condemning Title II.
Watch the Sierra Times they have a reporter on the inside of the meeting who will give the play by play.
My membership is up for renewal soon. This kind of thing is why I am not a life member. I wanted the option to renew yearly, just in case they got squirrely on me. I'll be letting them know how I feel...real soon (as in NOW).
They will not see another dime from me.
I will only support the REAL 2nd Amensment groups more deserving.
BTTT
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