Michael Lissack us all has run far in advance of the evidence. It is money, purely money, that drives these behaviors. Then there is my final story quote from the Journal. In late summer 1994, “coordinated rallies were held in three states to protest overzealous enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. In California, a Taiwanese immigrant farmer faces a year in prison and $300,000 in fines for killing five kangaroo rats while tilling his land. Residents of Idaho’s Bureau Valley are fighting the listing of a pinhead-size snail that differs from other snails only in that it has a larger-than normal sexual organ. The most vocifer- ous demonstration was in Austin, the Texas state capital. More than 3,000 marchers protested plans by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare 800,000 acres in a 33 county area as “critical habitat” for a migratory song- bird called the golden cheeked warbler. Many farmers claimed they will be prevented from doing anything that could be viewed as “harassment” of the warbler, including building new fences. A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service claimed the agency’s enforcement is ‘reasonable and pru- dent’, while acknowledging that ‘harassment’ would include chasing away a warbler that took up residence on the front porch of a farmhouse. A group called Take Back Texas is fighting back and has support from many state of- ficials. Democratic Attorney General Dan Morales was quoted as saying he would sue the Interior Department if they lock in the 33 counties as warbler habitat. ‘The Endangered Species Act has been recently employed in ways that appear to defy Congressional intent, sound governmental policy and basic common sense,’ he wrote Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Governor Anne Richards wrote a ‘Dear Bruce’ letter noting that most landowners practice ‘good land stewardship’ and urging ‘an extraordinarily cautious approach.’” Government wasn’t always like this. We used to be ruled by political bosses who willingly called themselves that and didn’t bother with labels such as “good government’ or “do-gooder.” Sure the old bosses were crooks, but so what? They delivered the goods, ranging from jobs to vital services, for constituents. Most Americans today look down their noses at such open vote-buying, but their moral superiority is largely unjustified. The bosses stole thousands, maybe millions, of dollars from city treasuries. Look at
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