Saturday, November 4, 2017

Rules Are For Thee, But Not For Me

Thomas Jefferson said "tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government, but ILLEGAL for the citizenry".

Nowhere is this more blatant than the current lock-it-all-up-and-watch-it-all-burn management policies the US Forest Service follows.

Very little effort was made to contain the Chetco Bar Fire on July 12th when it was first detected.

Had it originated on private or state land, it would undoubtedly have been extinguished. If for no other reason than to prevent massive fines from the Forest Service, had it spread to public lands.

The facts from the case are showing a high degree of negligence on the part of the Forest Service, yet not one Forest Service official is in danger of losing their job.

No restitution is being paid to the eight families who lost everything. Or the 8500 homeowners forced to evacuate and abandon their livelihoods for much of the duration of the fire.

Maybe if the Forest Service had to play by the same rules as the rest of us, they wouldn't be so quick to lock-it-all-up-and-watch-it-all-burn.

Or, maybe if we turned management of federal lands over to state control where it belongs, thousands of people wouldn't be displaced by wildfires on the scale that the Forest Service likes to let them grow to.


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