You might remember this time last spring when Big Horn County was inundated with murky water. Well, it's time to pull on our gum boots and get ready for another deluge. We should be getting plenty of murky information between now and November. Unfortunately, this flood will sweep our whole country.
It has already started in the media, with plenty of thunderous blame being inflicted on our American government and democratically elected officials. Regular folks are pushed to forget about civility, kindness, and any attempt to understand the views of others by the vitriolic TV and radio talk shows. I stopped the media in my house since it raised the level of irrationality and began seeding clouds of hatred and innuendo. Similar floods in the past have crested in assassinations. Think about Martin Luther King, Jr, the Kennedys and Gabrielle Giffords .
Everyone has the right to free speech, but at what point should we raise incoherent ramblings of hatred (from less than savory sources) to the level of relevant discourse? Recently, Ted Nugent, the flashy entertainer from the 70's, promised that if Obama is elected he will either be dead or in prison by this time next year. Such chilling assassination rhetoric used against Obama publicly sounds an awful lot like the toxic speech I initially heard in the sixty's from the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan against human targets in Southern Mississippi. It was not considered socially acceptable back then for the media to direct-quote such speech. Now media moguls mob Nugent and feast on his and other toxic emissions. Try a few links:
http://mediamatters.org/search/tag/hate_speech
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/ted-nugent-history-amendment/story?id=16173310#.T5gDJY4zLXM
http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/research/HateSpeech.asp
Closer to home, misinformation about the future of farming abounds. It's easy to be confused when small family farms are lumped into the same category as mega-agribusiness. Let's face it, how we farm here in Big Horn County is very different from huge industrialized agriculture. I got wind of a youtube video that purports to reveal how Obama is going to end family farming as we know it. After a little background searching, I discovered that the DOT regulation under question was not meant to apply to family farms and has been repealed. The regulation was not, in fact, initiated by Obama. The reality is that Obama will do nothing other than preserve my freedom to teach my grandson to drive my tractor, with the same freedom for family farms into the next generations.
Clear rational skies reveal the truth that neither Obama nor Romney want to undermine our freedoms now or in the future. But we all, and any president, need rational citizens to speak up, force organizations like ALEC to end their meddling in our legislative processes with taxpayer-supported lobbying, and dry up the noisy storms of ranting and raving luminaries.
. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiFnnR_gpvg&feature=share
http://www.nfib.com/issues-elections/issues-elections-item?cmsid=57923
But there's hope! A new majority of Americans now believe our recent wet/dry, hot/cold, extreme storm experience indicate the human factor in the global climate change from greenhouse gases. This human factor looms conspicuously in Big Horn County, with the millions of coal tonnage rattling our windows and shaking our boots adding up each time a hundred 20-ton cars roll buy on the Burlington Northern destined for the air above the planet we and all critters and plants breath. This should take our breath away. When, if ever, have humans emitted anywhere near the current megatons of that stuff up into the air? Will God intervene in our foolish disregard for his creation? Well-funded voices say He will, but thankfully, now more are doubting God will pander to this human foolishness.
One more piece of good news. In January, the Montana Supreme Court upheld our state's right to enforce its own anti-corruption election finance laws, in defiance of the federally mandated ruling permitting unlimited corporate spending in state elections. There's still a fight ahead, but Montana's willingness to follow common sense in these times of intense political division should be applauded. In March, a petition was filed that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the Montana case on appeal and to summarily reverse Montana's ruling. Legal argument later in April will ask the Court to deny the petition and to refuse to hear the case on constitutional grounds. If that happens it will be a victory for states' rights and the Supreme Court's challenge to the Montana Supreme Court will be declared unconstitutional. It's hard to imagine that we live in a time when corporations enjoy the rights and privileges of citizens, with none of the legal responsibilities that we assume as human beings. I'm proud that Montana is willing to stand up and say this situation is wrong-headed and potentially dangerous.
Let's hold onto our capacity for reason and human decency during this upcoming flood. We won't agree with our neighbors about everything, but we should be able to overcome toxic politics and retain our sense of Montana goodness.
David Graber
Hardin, MT 59034
graberd59034@hotmail.com
www.greenwoodfarmmt.org
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