MY Tea Party Enlightenment in Mt. Shasta Part 2

In returning to my questions about the true intent of the Constitution, I wondered with Ron and Regina whether a "war tax" would be appropriate at this time as our big government is fighting at least five wars and the funding is not budgeted. It is borrowed  through instruments known as appropriations.  It's not in the budget.  Congress votes to make the money available ... without fail.  My understanding, as I shared it, was that we have already had to pay $178 billion in interest alone on these unfunded adventures.  It makes sense to me that we should be paying a war tax ... a form of shared sacrifice. After all, in WWII our parents got by with rationing, growing victory gardens and buying war bonds.  Regina was not thrilled with the war tax idea.  Maybe it should be done.  We all agreed that the US was fighting too many wars.  I added that after the World Trade Center jet airliner attack, President Bush did not ask for sacrifices.  Rather, he encouraged his "fellow Americans" to go shopping, to take vacations, and to go to Disneyland.  Perhaps, therefore, much of our debt is a result of military expenditures.  Why not address that?


I explored with Ron and Regina the question of why we are cutting Medicare and Social Security and not focusing on reducing military spending.  After all, to me homeland security involves good medical care.  When you think that 3,000 people were killed at the World Trade Center and our response has been trillion dollar outlays in wars overseas and $400 billion for homeland security expenses here at home, that seems like overkill.  Meanwhile, more than 45,000 people die yearly in the homeland due to lack of health insurance.  And now we're looking at cuts to Medicare? 


Like a needle skipping across a 33 rpm vinyl record, Ron jumped to local Siskiyou County issues.   After all, as I am discovering, it is the local government regulations and taxes that seem to bother Tea Party people the most.  They follow the narrative of "do for yourself and don't interfere with me."  I guess, upon reflection, that the allusion to 33 rpm records will not be understood by younger people.  However, Ron, Regina and I are all old white farts who cut our teeth on vinyl LP's. 


On the local scene, Ron was uphappy with the "Monument", the removal of three damns from the Klamath River, the organization known as "Shasta Commons and ideas he had heard about removing population from rural areas and housing them in huge, apartment like structures.  The dread inspired by the prospect of a one world government rounded out his litany of concerns.


The Monument.  I had seen signs along Interstate 5 that read, "No Monument."  Ron explained that the government was engaging in a massive land grab and there was going to be a 640,000 acre area cut off with no roads.  I didn't understand what the problem was with "roadless areas"; however I knew that usually such designations were reserved for "wilderness areas" such as the Trinity Alps or the Marble Mountains to name just two in our area.  Ron related that Clinton had designated the Monument in the waining hours of his presidency and it was undemocratic as well as a massive land grab.  (As an aside, Ron was confusing the proposed monumnet with the one that Clinton actually approved: The Shasta-Cascade National Monument described at the following link.  http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/medford/plans/csnm.php.)  Ron was adamantly against this "Monument."  I was clueless at this point but when I got home I researched "The Monument" on the Internet.


The proposed Siskiyou Crest National Monument can be explored in person and on the Internet at:
 http://kswild.org/what-we-do-2/WildlandProtection/siskiyoucrestmap4web.gif.
The map of the proposed Siskiyou Crest National Monument shows that there are already several designated wilderness areas containing within the nascent boundaries as well as the Oregon Caves.  The lead organization promoting the establishment of the "monument" is the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center: http://kswild.org/. 


The timing for the adding the Siskiyou Crest National Monument to protection status comes as two of our Northern California State Parks, as Castle Crags and Del Norte Coastal Redwoods State Park are to be permanently closed by 2012.  Northern California has taken an inordinately brutal hit in the closure of 70 California State Parks.  One has to wonder how well we were represented by Senator Doug LaMalfa and Assemblyman Jim Nielsen.  At any rate, the opening up of the Siskiyou Crest National Monument could compensate in part for the losses of public space that people in Northern California are facing.


My Internet research revealed that Ron was misinformed about the roadless status of the "Monument."  Within the boundaries there are already roads.  These are not slated to be closed.  In addition, any private property already existing in the boundaries will have access rights.  The proposed monument is an area of diversity in plants and creatures.  Here is a web site that can say more than I could possibly write: http://www.siskiyoucrest.org/download/SCNMprofile.pdf.  It contains 600,000 acres.


Tomorrow I will add another blog page.  I just got carried away exploring the above Internet link.  In fact, I was planning on taking, Patrick, our Irish Wolfhound to the Trinity Alps next.  Now I'm looking to explore the Siskiyou Crest.