More slash and burn, the better to clear out the gnarly undergrowth.
If ever in doubt, you cannot go too far wrong in opposing anything Progressive Dane supports or questioning that quintessential single issue candidate, Spencer Black, D-Sierra Club.
Gaining momentum in the state Legislature is a very bad idea: taking the politics out of the DNR.
Tuesday, by a 21-12 vote, the state Senate voted to return to having the state Natural Resources Board -- and not the governor -- appoint the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, beginning in 2011.
Sure, sounds good, in an ephemeral, adult attention deficit disorder, channel-surfing sort of way. It is the equivalent of the 1960s' "U.S. out of North America." Let's take the politics out of politics.
It is true that, until the dark shadow cast by Tommy Thompson in 1995, the Department of Natural Resources secretary was appointed by a seven-member citizen board. Now, the DNR secretary is a political appointee who is "hired and fired by the governor," Spencer Black wrote in a September Op Ed in The Capital Times.
Back in the day, "Decisions about our outdoors were based on science, not politics," the well-funded Madison Democrat sighs. You get the gist: politics bad, BA-AAD! Science good.
Yes, let's take the politics out of the environment. After all, what is more sacred than the air we breathe and the deer we shoot? Not to mention mourning doves, those tasty morsels, over a fluffy bed of couscous and a little redacted Chianti wine sauce. (Cue Hannibal Lecter tongue flicking.)
While we're at it, let's take the politics out of education. After all, what is more critical than annual -- nay, semi-annual pay raises for our teachers? Let's take the politics out of law enforcement. After all, what is more important than mandatory minimum prison sentences? Let's take the politics out of economic development. After all, what is more essential than taxpayer bail-outs for sub-prime home mortgage lenders? Yes, let's take the politics out of taxation. After all, what is more just than taxing the people we don't like and exempting those we do?
Hellz Bellz, let's take the politics out of government. You know where I am going: the scientific dialectic of Herr Marx his own self.
You don't like the campground policy of the DNR? Tough. What do you know? You're not a campground scientist.
True, the precursors to the Department of Natural Resources from 1927 until 1995 were run by an appointed board. But so was state government -- all of it -- until the reorganization of 1967, which bit off as much as it could chew by bringing the Highway Commission, the Industrial Board, etc. into the executive branch.
You think Governors Doyle, McCallum, Thompson, etc. are sapping our precious bodily fluids? Nothing you can do about it. No, you can't influence natural resource policy, not even to "strengthen" it, because your vote means nothing in the Spencer Black world of the Environment uber alles.
The "environmentalists" have taken control of that dial and there is nothing you can do about it. The people, which is the root word of the Greek "politics," are not to be trusted in the Spencer Black universe.
Only the Environment is good. And Spencer Black knows what it needs.
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