From the August 2003 issue of Resource Roundup…

Stop It!

   The Republican Party is supposed to be in favor of smaller government spending, but, as much as we like President Bush and are grateful for the good work that many of our Republican officials have done, reduced spending has not been apparent during this Administration. We are still funding PBS, despite the fact that hundreds of channels are now easily accessible. We are still funding ‘the arts’, despite the fact that some of our taxpayer money is being used for obscenity that bears no relation to art -- and that there are plenty of millionaires in this country who could patronize struggling artists. We are still funding pork projects, and a War on Poverty that hasn’t worked and a War on Drugs that abuses the Constitutional rights of too many law-abiding Americans -- and hasn’t stopped drug use. We are still buying more land to add to the 1/3 of the country that the federal government already owns -- even though it can’t afford to maintain what it has, including basic infrastructure such as the sewer systems in some of our National Parks. We are still giving grants to environmental organizations whose aims are to eliminate people from 50% of the country’s land base, drastically reduce our population, and reduce our standard of living to a bare subsistence level.

   Everyday we hear about putting more money into an educational system that turns out a high percentage of illiterates no matter how many hundreds of millions of dollars we add to it. Everyday we hear more about funding more low-income housing, and prescription drugs, and other federal projects.

   Here at Resource Roundup, we get press releases from a variety of elected officials noting their efforts to obtain monies for their states or for industries in their states. Some of them are worthy projects; some are projects that seem to be only planned to increase a Congressman’s popularity with his constituents.

   To the Republicans: Slow down the spending spree! The federal government is responsible for protecting us from foreign and domestic terrorists, for regulating interstate commerce, and that’s about all. To the states and counties: Take back your power. Some of these projects are worthy, but should be state, not federal, projects. To taxpayers: You are the government. Act like it!

When Was the Constitution Amended?

   A few weeks ago I was discussing the fact that federal law does not apply to any state, county, city, or town. Disbelief should not have surprised me. After a few minutes of discussion, I asked, “Which came first, the states or the federal government?” A slow reply came forth: “I guess the states.”

   That’s correct. The thirteen colonies met to draft a better way of providing three things:

1) A common currency or value of gold and silver;

2) An Agreement on commerce between the colonies; and

3) A system to defend and protect their shores and borders.

   Out of these meetings we were given a Constitution which mandated a Republican form of government, not a Democracy as we now hear everyone espousing. When the framers of the Constitution left Independence Hall in Philadelphia, a lady asked, “What have you given us?” Benjamin Franklin replied: “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

   Again I ask, which came first: the states or the federal government? In the U.S. Constitution, our forefathers limited the federal government to 17 specific items and 10 miles square. There have been numerous court rulings emphasizing this (U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clauses 1-17 and the 10th Amendment). However, our state and local legislators have given up our Republic rights for debt money called grants.

   I ask you, when was the Constitution amended to allow “executive orders” by the President or a governor? When was it amended to allow any form of federal police? When was it amended to allow for the agencies of EPA, DEA, FBI, CIA, Department of Education, and on and on?

   The answer is ‘never’. “We the people” have allowed this to happen. We were told that “the price of freedom is everlasting vigilance.” Have we been vigilant? Can you say that you’ve done your part to leave behind for your children and grandchildren what your forefathers left for you?

   I challenge anyone, in or out of government to show me one “program” which has done what was envisioned and implemented by the social planners. The record -- billions of dollars wasted -- speaks for itself.

(Excerpted from the National Federal Lands Update, 1999)

“To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.”

Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Senate to Review Nature Conservancy

   The Senate Finance Committee has asked The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to submit thousands of pages of internal documents as part of an “independent review” of the non-profit organization’s practices, according to The Washington Post. In addition to internal documents reaching back a decade and containing names and Social Security numbers of those who received loans and land from TNC, the committee will review the non-profit’s tax records.

   The ‘review’ was no doubt prompted by an excellent series of articles published in The Washington Post about several TNC practices. One of the 18 topics to be reviewed is the organization’s “sale of scenic property to trustees who then made tax-deductible donations to the organization,” reported the Post article by Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway. After the series of articles was published, TNC changed its practices so that it will no longer sell land to trustees and other TNC insiders, said a TNC spokesman.  

   The committee will also examine details of land sales to government agencies, including any profits banked by TNC, and grants received from other non-profit organizations.

   (This review is long overdue, and we hope that the committee finds enough evidence to thoroughly investigate other TNC practices, including alleged intimidation of landowners, and the way that it has spent any government grants received. If you have any information about unethical practices of TNC, this might be a good time to send it to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) or ranking Democrat Max Baucus (D-MT). Address to either at Washington, D.C. 20510. The committee plans to start its review in a month. -Ed.)