Science Matters |
So Does Truth and Common Sense |
10/4/98
We've got a government - Of the people - By the people and For
the people. Right? No, not any longer. If you really believe
that, you're not too well informed.
Government of the people, by the people doesn't exist in most of
Maine, sometimes in all of Maine. Majority votes no longer carry
the weight they once did. We are coming mighty close to "a
government by the EPA, the DEP, by the U.N. for the environmental
establishment to govern and control the people.
Outrageous? I don't think so. King, Carter and their green
friends devised two referendums about a forestry control
initiative, known as the "Compact". In two statewide
referendums the populace said No! Then in the last Legislature,
for all practical purposes, a similar compact initiative was
introduced to a "green" legislature. It passed and is
now law. To quite an extent the Compact, twice defeated by the
Maine voters, is now law. Clever, aren't they?
Quite obviously a statewide referendum vote means nothing to our
liberal governor and his liberal friends in the Legislature, or
to the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which influences so
much "green" legislation in Augusta.
"Oh, come on, Hiram", a somewhat liberal friend said,
as he read this early copy. "You've gone too far!"
"No, I haven't." I reminded him of two referendums our
school district had on a school budget. A very ambitious school
board had increased the budget by too much. In both referendums,
our voters said 'no', in overwhelming numbers. In a third vote,
460 people voted yes in a town meeting session for the very same
budget that had been rejected by more than 1400 voters.
Now the school establishment thinks they are in a sound position
to go ahead with this expanded budget figure. But they ignore the
fact that three and a half times (1400) as many people voted the
same budget down. Is this government by the people, for the
people? I think not.
LURC, the Land Use Regulatory Commission, governs the unorganized
territories in Maine. This is a committee, appointed by the
governor, that totally controls these unorganized territories in
Maine. They control the schools (no local school boards). They
issue all building permits and assess property taxes. To say they
are dictatorial is no exaggeration. Quite obviously they
represent the governor; after all he appointed them. "No,
that's not true", I've been told. "We're terribly
concerned about the 7000 people up here in LURC territory".
I laughed when I heard that. LURC has been in existence for 20
years, yet I can find no move by the LURC membership, or the
liberals in Augusta, to allow LURC membership to be elected by
the people living in the LURC areas. No, indeed, they all seem to
be happy to have the board appointed by the grace of the
governor. Anyone who denies that ought to think again.
A government of the people, by the people, for the people? It's a
laugh in Maine, that has been proven. This has to stop, don't you
think?
Hiram Perry writes on environmental, agricultural and other scientific topics for various Maine publications. Contact Hiram Perry by phone (234-2790) or email perry@uninets.net |