An intriguing viewpoint

[voluptuary_manque]

I suggest that our entire collection of folks with ecological/economic views take in this article from the University of Chicago.

 

[amicus]

Thank you VM, for the link and for the article...it is the most recent I have come across and quite interesting.

At the height of the ecological mania in the US, about a generation ago, a group identified as, 'Wise Use' advocates attempted to combat or ameliorate those who held the 'pristine' concept as Holy Grail and identified everything bad in nature as man caused or anthropogenic; most still do.

I noted their were eight reads and no replies, not surprising, the piece is outside the mantra of the anti industrial left and will be considered heresy.

Again, thank you very much for the piece, much of it new information to me and appreciated.

Amicus...

 

[epiphany65]

I noted their were eight reads and no replies, not surprising, the piece is outside the mantra of the anti industrial left and will be considered heresy.

Amicus...

Either that or they don't care about these issues as much as the stereotype assumes.

 

[amicus]

Epiphany...VM....been fighting since I read the opening piece not to preach to the choir as I have been cognizant of this ongoing conflict for nearly half a century.

I also know that most who are familiar with the opposition to the environmentalists and radical ecologists, are well versed in the literature and research available and those who are not, can't be convinced in any way to go against a two generation long assault on the works of man.

For those who would like a history of this conflict, as good a place as any to begin is the non fiction works and essays of Ayn Rand as she provides essays and authors from all walks of life who support and confirm her assumptions.

It truly saddens me that so many, over the past forty years are so misinformed as to the roots of this movement and the effects it has had on society.

Just one example is the current housing and mortgage crisis. Forty years of limititations on expansion, home building, logging, growth in general, has placed the lower middle class out of the home buying range because of increased building and land costs brought about by the environmental lobbies, their restrictions and regulations.

Most already understand the root cause of the energy crisis, those self same planet saver's that have stifled growth and expansion.

Okay, sorry for the mini rant, but I find it a little exciting that others are taking up the battle after lo these many years of spendid isolation from my point of view.

Thank you again.

Amicus...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

So, good! This means it's open season on trees? Time to strip-mine Yellowstone?

 

[amicus]

You won't have a clue towards understanding this Mab, but others may.

The best and only truly environmentally conservative philosophy is to place all land in the hands of private ownership, as the Founders and the Constitution intended, the government to act as 'caretakers' of the land within the sovreign borders, until such time it was needed by individuals.

Of course, this requires well defined and enforced property rights, protecting the right of the individual owner against all others, including corporations, conglomerates and even necessary government land ownership such as military complexes.

Individual human freedom, including property rights, is an ongoing conflict as times and technologies changes, both must always be fought for and defended against those who view the 'greater good', the collective, as of greater import than the individual.

Amicus...

 

[epiphany65]

You won't have a clue towards understanding this Mab, but others may.

The best and only truly environmentally conservative philosophy is to place all land in the hands of private ownership, as the Founders and the Constitution intended, the government to act as 'caretakers' of the land within the sovreign borders, until such time it was needed by individuals.

Of course, this requires well defined and enforced property rights, protecting the right of the individual owner against all others, including corporations, conglomerates and even necessary government land ownership such as military complexes.

Amicus...

That will never happen though as long as there's eminent domain. Striking down that law is something I'd love to see happen. How is it any different than Communists taking the land and wealth of the rich and nationalizing it anyway?

 

[amicus]

Interesting, Epiphany and thank you. I would like to note that Governor Palin mentioned eminent domain as one of the Supreme Court decisions she would like to see overturned also.

There is quite a history to eminent domain, within the context of individual property ownership and it is not quite a cut and dried issue.

For example, early on, 'easements', either adjacent or invasive, to permit other property owners access to their land was included in deed restrictions and requirements as part of the responsibility and obligation of owning property.

There were also water rights, Riparian Rights and hundreds of others not foreseen by the Founders that had, by necessity, to become the province of the courts and law to resolve.

Just as the old adage, your freedom ends at the tip of my nose, many inherent and mutually beneficial dictums emerge when adjacent property owners have differences. Again, it is a matter of well defined property rights and enforcement, free of political pressures, (almost impossible in a practical world), that determine not just property ownership but human freedom and the right to the fruits of ones labor.

As I mentioned before and have several times, freedom must be re earned, fought for and defended by each generation lest we lose what has been gained.

Thanks again for a thought provoking question/statement.

Amicus...

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Interesting, Epiphany and thank you. I would like to note that Governor Palin mentioned eminent domain as one of the Supreme Court decisions she would like to see overturned also.

God that woman is scary.

Just because Mother Nature does what she can to repair herself (and she IS good at it) doesn't mean we aren't damaging her. If she has to, she'll wipe us all out and start over. She's done it with other species before. Humans are just another animal living off her graces. *shrug*

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I hope the eminent domain decision that Palin was speaking of is the one that allows the government to confiscate private land, not for public purposes, but for sale to another private party, like a developer. I'm sure that Selena would also prefer that eminent domain be used exclusively for public purposes rather than making things easier for the mayor's cronies . . .

 

[DeeZire]

I read the article. To me it appeared to be more of an opinion piece - like the opinion pieces discounting man's affect on global warming. To claim that monocultures are ecologically sound is so utterly ridiculous, it puts into question the legitimacy of the science involved in the conclusions put forth.

Of course, some people are so ideologically driven, they will choose what to believe, regardless of the science ignored to justify those beliefs.

Good luck with that.