From the story:
"A legislative effort to declare the 346,000-acre stretch of Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Solano and Yolo counties a “national conservation area” – led by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer – has stalled in Congress for several years running. So now proponents are changing tactics and asking Obama for an executive action naming Berryessa Snow Mountain a national monument, similar to his declaration for the San Gabriel Mountains this fall."
While we all like open space, this national monument program does not appear to be about open space for our benefit. Our Federal representatives are supposed to be advocating for our State, not to give the land of our State to the federal government.
We have contacts in the San Gabriel area who were able to keep Mt. Baldy out of the National Monument, so can work with them if you are interested. They are putting an organization together to manage our lands and environment responsibility without handing it all over to the federal government.
If the federal government goes unchallenged and controls all our land and breaks our county boundaries through financing the growth of regional agencies, then our three branch county, state, federal government, a bulwark against abuse of power and the political power of we the people, will fall by the wayside as we are taken into a one branch, top down, local > regional > world governance system.
Freedom as we know it today will be gone.
"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." -Thomas Jefferson
I was just going to post a link to an article about San Francisco police receiving money for surveillance equipment (yes, like NSA type of surveillance) from the federal government when I saw John's post. This is not good, folks. There is a reason why the Founding Parents gave specific and limited powers to the federal government, but legislators seem to be throwing away that limit in exchange for, what, power? money?
The area in question is already under federal control via several federal agencies, but I suppose legislators want to make sure the area is forever property of the feds by declaring it a monument.
Of course this is what would be done. Bit it can't be done or it would be already done.
"In my view, both situations require one solution, return all power to local control, and starve the various beasts that need starving."
I am not sure that I subscribe to the idea that "it can't be cone or it would be already done." I think that is something that folks would say in the 1950's about landing on the moon.
The question as to what I would suggest to accomplish my idea of returning power to local control is, however, a legitimate one. It would be great if you posted your suggestions also.
1. Publicize the challenge to incentivize people who are tired of federal control.
2. Put legislators on notice that they will be kicked out of office if they do not respond to the calls for local control.
3. Spell out what it would take to return to local control: cut federal and state taxes, cut government salary and benefits to reasonable levels (national averages for all wages and salaries, for example), refuse to vote for forever increasing "benefits" of all types, and make up the difference by modifying Proposition 13. True, real libertarian thinking would say privatize everything and all of the challenges would go away. But, in my view, privatization would have to follow, not lead, the reforms I am suggesting.
4. Once local control is accepted as a better scenario than what we have today, and state and federal taxes are cut to where they only fund basic constitutional functions, then what is the federal government going to use to control the world, including schools and wilderness?
BTW, the question of how tax structures have encouraged the drift away from local control is one of the proposed subjects for the LPSF Tax Day Symposium 2015. It's a start. But, now let's hear how you would suggest we all start.