by Lunell Haught, Washington chapter vice president
The following op-ed was published on August 22, 2003, in the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
President Bush follows several Republican presidents who have considered and guided decisions about America's land, water, air, and creatures. During his visit to Western states this month, he will continue to comment on and guide public policy about our national health. His focus is on our physical, not fiscal, condition.
I am part of a long line of Republicans who ingrained in me "actions speak louder than words." I hope with this visit we begin to see actions, not just words, that reflect America's values. President Theodore Roosevelt, a great outdoorsman, understood the importance of public lands, wildlife refuges, and a National Park system. His conservation actions ensured the incomparable grandeur of Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. His conservation efforts allowed us to realize the economic benefits of preserving watersheds; places for different kinds of fish and animals to live; and the increasing leisure and recreation benefits of trails and campsites. Roosevelt and others following his path worked to save the physical body of America. Teddy Roosevelt said "no" to greed and power. It benefited all of us tremendously.
Far-reaching clean air and water as well as habitat and species legislation were created during the Nixon administration. He understood our country was headed down the road to fouling our own nest. Legislation ensured that we could go outside and breathe fresh air every day, we could drink from our kitchen taps, and saving at least some of every creature in the ecological system would keep the whole system intact. Nixon said "no," changed our national direction, and it resulted in great benefits for our citizens.
Nothing is perfect; changes may be needed. But the changes we have seen in the Bush administration are not just changes, they are an insult to American values and thinking.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz coaches Republican candidates to use words so they sound as though the speaker cares about our water, air, energy, and land. Using language, not actions, that seems to uphold American values appears to be his expertise. He's seen the polls that show Americans want clean air and water and access to public land that has value for recreation as well as watersheds and habitat. He also knows that Americans want the federal government to play a focused but substantial conservation role. He also knows Americans are no more interested in subsidizing corporations than they are in subsidizing individuals who refuse to work. Putting a "for our own good" spin on propping up industries that are a net cost to taxpayers eliminates choices we might make if we knew the real cost.
Somewhere in elementary school I learned that my freedom ended where yours began, usually the end of your nose. It wasn't right to mess each other up or take advantage. Taking advantage, in this case, means hiding the real cost, fiscally and physically. Our problem now is that it isn't always easy to associate the mess with the cause of it, or the cost of it. For example, we wish we had known we were creating downwinders when it happened. We wish knapweed and toadflax weren't taking over the wild, making it impossible for our Eastern Washington creatures to survive. We wish we could eat as many fish as we wanted from the Spokane River without health risk. If we knew the downside, we probably, would have said "no" to the policies or indifference that created these messes.
The president's decisions are creating messes that won't really appear until it is expensive to fix them. The energy policy subsidizes coal, the one fuel identified as the worst offender in global warming. We're getting a "healthy" forest policy that subsidizes logging the biggest trees to pay for clearing some of the brush near communities and dwellings. As we learned from the Spokane South Hill fires this summer, it's only the big trees that don't burn down. There is no fallback plan. Taxpayers have to help the corporations log and help pay for the fires when they come anyway. Our new clean water initiative takes away protection of Class 4 wetlands, from which most West Plains residents get well water. What happens if those wells get polluted? The Roadless Rule -- which promoted the idea that some parts of the forest should not have vehicles -- is not being enforced, even though we know the dirt trails and roads are the biggest reason for invasive plants and camper, hiker, hunter, and backpacker distress.
Why are we making more when we can't maintain what we have? The Bureau of Land Management can't protect land just because it might be declared a wilderness, meaning we can mess something up, changing it forever. What happened to "save this because we might want to do something else with it?" Republicans are conservative, and conserving our physical property, as well as our fiscal property is a priority.
Conservation-minded Republicans hope this trip inspires President Bush to reflect on others who have dealt with people who tried to con presidents into thinking their short-term agenda was a long-term good for the American public. We hope this trip will inspire him to tie his words and actions together on behalf of all Americans.
