FACT v. FICTION

Fiction: There is one certain mix and distribution of plants and animals that "belong" and are best for rural America and the developing nations of the world. If they are rare, they are forcibly preserved; if they are absent from any particular area, they are to be forcibly reintroduced. We call them native species and their communities, native ecosystems. All other plants and animals, termed invasive species, should be eradicated. "The date" can be set (1492 AD, 1776 AD, 1806 AD, etc.) to fit any supposition (Columbus, US Constitution, Lewis and Clark, etc.) to fit any cause and an academic can be found to say what was or was not present. Refuting nonsense is impossible since all assertions are tenuous and "experts" always claim the benefit of the doubt.
Fact: There is an almost infinite mix and distribution of plants and animals that can thrive in each and every section of the habitable world. None are more proper or "right" than any other. History has shown that societies that make choices about the best mix and distribution of plants and animals considering everything from agriculture and fire control to wood products, recreation, and human wants and needs are the societies that succeed socially and economically. Note western Europe and pre-1970 United States for confirmation of this fact.

Fiction: Strong central governments and international rules are necessary to "save" native species. The greatest threat to plants and animals are humans and their activities and only by coercion and punishment can human disturbances and uses be curtailed. Government spending, government land acquisition and enforcement of government rules must be continually increased to "save endangered species," "eradicate invasive species," and regulate human activities from hunting and fishing to ranching, logging, and animal ownership.
Fact: Human freedom, private property, and sustainable uses of plants and animals have always resulted in the mix and distribution of plants and animals best suited to a particular society at a particular time. Strong central governments and international rules are always inimical to building and sustaining the "best" and "proper" mix of plants and animals. When plants and animals remain property (either public or private) and when all natural resources (plants, animals, energy, minerals, etc.) are developed and managed for human benefit, biodiversity is maintained and funding is generated to study and manage methods and changes best suited for the future. Note the abundance, diversity, uses, and modifications of the United States in its first 200 years compared to other developing countries for confirmation of this fact.

Given these facts, we must ask why urban American groups, US politicians, and international organizations reiterate these fictions? How can corrupt falsehoods like the "benefits of wilderness", elimination of plant and animal ownership and uses, the declaration of total protection for growing lists of plants and animals, and increased central government power at the expense of state authorities and private property be propagated and believed? The answer lies partially in the ages old human foible observed by Aristotle that tyrants must declare wars because they have to convince the people of the need to keep them in power. Just like wars reinforce government power and the need for more power; these fictions reinforce government power and all the bureaucracies, organizations, and factions that benefit from that power.

Some obvious benefactors of these fictions are the bureaucracies who grow their budgets, salaries, and power. Politicians get votes and a wide range of reelection supports for converting the fictions into laws. University professors benefit from the grants, prestige, and tenure that accompany all of the data generation used as justification. Environmental organizations benefit from memberships, bequests, and power sharing with bureaucrats. Animal rights organizations benefit by growing government power to establish laws to eliminate animal ownership and use as well as the benefits cited for environmental organizations.

Yet the benefits of these fictions may be of even greater benefit for a wide range of invisible factions:
- Anti-Capitalists use these fictions to rally support for replacing capitalism with socialist models or even communism where government planning reigns supreme.
- Those who vilify the European settlement of America focus on the purported despoliation of a Native American Garden of Eden. This reinforces their calls for stopping growth and justifies discriminating against white males, the Founding Fathers, business owners, ranchers, etc.
- Modern Luddites use these fictions to call for eliminating "globalism, corporations, and energy development."
- Disaffected urban citizens and wealthy businessmen and media stars use these fictions to justify philanthropic campaigns to disenfranchise others who do things that these citizens neither do nor approve of.
- Individuals opposed to an incredible range of human activities from the eating of meat and the keeping of pets to hunting, farming, ranching, logging, fire control, rodeos, trapping, circuses, animal experiments, commercial fishing, recreational fishing, energy development, SUV's, highway expansion, mining, lawns, ATV's, horseback riding, etc. use these fictions to convince sympathetic judges and politicians to fulfill their fantasies.
- Western Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders use these fictions to prevent Japanese and Icelandic whalers from harvesting whales, African nations from managing or commercializing elephants, crocodiles, leopards, cheetahs, etc., and Asian nations from hunting mountain sheep, tigers, etc. These are but a few of thousands of such plant and animal restrictions employed by the UN at the behest of we "developed" nations. These actions absorb national sovereignty from undeveloped and Third World nations via the UN just as our central US government is similarly absorbing Constitutional sovereignty from our state governments in the US.
- Socialists and communists use these fictions to justify their calls for eliminating capitalism, individual freedoms, and the US Constitution.
- Individuals opposed to rural residences, rural lifestyles, and areas where freedoms are unrestricted use these fictions to force harmful animals into areas they want "cleared" for government land and "wilderness" expansions to create enormous unused and unmanaged expanses.
- Individuals and groups committed to drastically reducing human populations use these fictions to justify eliminating food supplies, capital formation schemes, and human life protections for all humans except themselves.
- Individuals obsessed with freezing their social and economic status use these fictions to deny native peoples access to traditional lifestyles and thereby permanently dependent on government programs and permanently inferior.

I could go on with this listing but the point is made. Biologically, the havoc all this wreaks goes unmentioned. Whale and seal populations depress commercial fish stocks on which we spend billions for recovery. Unmanaged elephants trample African children and crops while defoliating landscapes. Wolves cause ranchers ruin and push rural Americans to despair because sensible responses to the destruction and danger they pose is forbidden by government fiat.

The ways in which these fictions are embraced and facts ignored is reminiscent of pagan explanations of weather or human fortune. Like pagan tenets, these fictions mask a wide array of hidden agendas revolving around power over others and control of wealth. As we consider what to do about wolves or the Endangered Species Act or private property takings by government, it is worth considering what we are up against.

This is not something to be daunted by but it is something to understand in order to clarify why we need to ally ourselves with others. Such alliances first call for tolerance. Not until the outdoorsmen recognize that the right to have cockfights is the same right as the right to shoot a deer or catch a fish or trap a fox can they come together. Not until the pet owner recognizes that the right to breed or own a pet is the same right as a farmer or rancher to raise stock can they come together. Not until circus-goers understand that their right to attend a circus is the same right as the right of a rodeo rider or a logger to ride a steer or cut a tree can they come together. Not until those wanting more Federal authority for drug costs or schools or more UN authorities accept the notion that allowing for this steady accretion of authority upward is dangerous to everyone can they join in the effort to bring us and others back into a fact-based society where freedom and tolerance work their magic. Any sensible person comparing the first 200 years of the US to the rest of the world in those days and then looking at the past 30 years will understand why we must reject these fictions and return to the sound facts that proved themselves so successful throughout history.

Jim Beers
6 January 2004

This article and other recent articles by Jim Beers can be found at
http://www.allianceforamerica.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=91

Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak. Contact:
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