Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

ANWR as collectivism in drag

I have been in Washington for a couple of days. Good trip, glad to be back, although I was worried that it would take many days of effort to fly, given the ice and snow and rain. But, not so. Everything worked according to plan. You Americans are an efficient bunch! Well, maybe not in some things. I read this George Will column in the WaPo on the flight home. It is terrific. He cuts through the heart of the matter of ANWR with elegant precision. It is stupid not to drill; we should have done it twenty-four years ago. The oil from there would be about 20% of domestic production. He explains why the Left has opposed this with such fervor. It has nothing to do with caring for the environment. Nothing. Will says that "It is a disguised debate about elemental political matters. For some people, environmentalism is collectivism in drag. Such people use environmental causes and rhetoric not to change the political climate for the purpose of environmental improvement. Rather, for them, changing the society’s politics is the end, and environmental policies are mere means to that end."

Discussions - 3 Comments

wouldn’t it be collectivism in camo?

More like collectivism in tie-dye! (Hippies like it!) PETER - No mugs for this one??!??

I read an article a month or so ago about oil wells in Appalachia. Since the price of oil and natural gas has been going up oil wells have been popping up everywhere throughout the hills of Kentucky. The wells are usually small, but provide some additional money for the landowners. Several companies are busy scouring the state, buying mineral rights to land and such. Two lessons to be learned from this:

1. Liberals care little about Hillbillies. They hate them (my opinion about this has only been confirmed by law school), are embarrassed by them, and wish they would go away (Think All of the King’s Men). They worry about caribou herds being decimated many miles away from the contiguous US, but care little about the health or safety of the people in Kentucky, or its natural beauty (I’ll choose hills and small mountains over a tundra). 2. Private ownership of land prevents gathering resources from becoming such a political issue. Landowners can use their property how they see fit, provided it does not harm or inconvenience others. The problem with ANWR is that it is government land (I bet). The government ought to sell it. If the conservationists want to protect the land and the herds they can buy it and do what they want with it, if the oil companies want the oil, they can buy the land. Since oil will produce more value than any tourism, oil companies will be able to buy the land. This policy would allow the costs relating from use of this particular land to be borne by the people who profit from the particular use.

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