Daschle outlines agenda

Yesterday Tom Daschle outlined his agenda for rural areas. Here is an excerpt from the Argus Leader report:

His plan includes five planks he hopes to use to guide legislation next year in Congress: education, saving towns, expanding opportunities for farmers and ranchers, cutting health care costs and protecting the environment.

I would like to point out the problem “protecting the environment" poses for farmers and ranchers…not to mention freedom in general for all Americans.

My argument is based on a Henry Lamb column:

Americans were appalled when Castro nationalized private property in Cuba, and led the nation into socialism. Many but not all Americans were appalled when the governments of Zimbabwe and Namibia confiscated private property for redistribution. But a new generation of Americans has emerged who never learned what socialism is, or why their fathers and grandfathers fought so hard to prevent it in America.

For the benefit of those who didn't learn it in school, Socialism is:

1. : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods;
2. : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property; b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state;
3. : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism.

One threat to private property helps explains why far-left environmentalist Tony Dean supports Democrats and has promoted anti-property rights propaganda:

Socialism is overwhelming capitalism in America because socialist policies are called "smart growth" or "environmental protection." The proponents of these policies either fail to recognize or don't care that they are systematically transferring private property to government ownership and control, and are empowering government to effectively "administer" the means of production.

This process is under way across America. Perhaps the most blatant example is in King County, Wash., where a decade-long comprehensive planning process has produced a plan that will prohibit private landowners from using 65 percent of their property. The people whose ownership is being confiscated by government see the plan as pure theft. Led by so-called environmental groups, proponents of the plan have no problem empowering government to take the property of others.

The sanctity of private property is no less violated in King County than it was in Cuba or in Zimbabwe. In other nations, the process is called confiscation or nationalization; in America, it is called "smart growth," or "environmental protection."

On July 6th, Tony Dean posted this comment by Lynn Lang regarding the expansion of Wind Cave in the Black Hills:

Larry Diedrich is not supporting the Wind Cave expansion in the southern Black Hills. A story in the July 6 Rapid City Journal quotes him as saying he is afraid of prairie dogs and noxious weeds in the park.

"Diedrich thinks the federal government shouldn't expand the park without offering other federal
property for sale to private buyers - a no-net-gain system for the government," according to the Journal.
"Diedrich said he wants a serious discussion on those issues before he could support the expansion plan."

Larry Diedrch does understand the problems Henry Lamb has concerns about. Lang later demonstrates that the three South Dakota Democrats in Washington DC does not:

Tom Daschle supports the expansion. So does Tim Johnson. And Stephanie Herseth. Bill Janklow supported it before he resigned. But Larry Deidrich? No. I'm sure the Wise Use people think he's great.

Let me restate Lang’s last sentence: I'm sure the Wise people think he's great.

For those farmers and ranchers who believe Daschle has more clout than Thune to increase their government subsidies are wrong on two counts. First, Thune will be just as effective, if not more so, to represent their financial interests in DC. Second, the Daschle Democrats will add a cost to the so-called free government money the farmers and ranchers obtain…the cost maybe their land and the freedom that goes along with private property rights.

UPDATE: Thanks to ranchers.net for finding this link from the Herseth web site that provides us with the Rapid City Journal report on the Wind Cave issue.