By Michael Hoyt, Corvallis
If you live in Montana, you recently received a flyer titled “Smoke and Flames” from Steve Daines, one of the state’s two senators.
Besides the obvious false choice between “mismanagement” and “global warming” that he offers Montana’s citizens, several things bother me about this mailing.
First, is that line of small print just above the attached “comments” card, “prepared, published, and mailed at taxpayer expense.” That’s right, our taxes paid for this piece of propaganda from Daines. Although it purports to be an “informational” mailing, thus eligible to be mailed at taxpayer expense, it is clearly campaign literature.
Second, is his claim that “a healthy forest is a managed forest.” Really? If that is the case then how does he explain the fact that forests on our continent survived for millions of years before humans showed up to “manage” them? It’s more likely that what Daines really means by “a healthy forest” is a forest that industry is able to exploit at will with no restrictions.
Claiming that forest management reform is needed “to protect lives, lands and jobs” is a cleverly designed attempt to distract Montana residents from his actual goal, to allow unrestricted exploitation of forest lands by industry. His statement that “we’re done listening to those who tell us otherwise” demonstrates that, although as a senator he is supposed to represent ALL of his constituents, Daines has decided to represent only that small number of constituents who back him financially. His statement also indicates that if you answer “global warming,” he will ignore your response.
Third, he claims to be fighting for me by “pushing litigation relief” (no longer allow citizens to compel government agencies to follow existing laws and regulations), “forest management reform” (no longer require government agencies to follow existing laws and regulations), and “wildfire funding fix” (allot tax dollars to pay private companies for fighting wildfires). Funny, I don’t remember ever being asked if any of these were priorities I wanted to support. But then, I am not one of his big financial supporters.
Fourth, his claim that he is “also fighting to” ensure wildland firefighters’ disability and retirement benefits is pure cynicism. Granted, firefighters working for government agencies certainly need more benefits. But to claim that he is fighting for them while at the same time he works to move firefighting to the private sector is dishonest. Granted, the remaining small number of government-employed firefighters will benefit if his bills pass. But if Daines gets his wish the vast majority of firefighters will be working in for the private sector and will receive no protection under Daines’ S. 949 and S. 950 bills.
Fifth, allowing “state foresters to work across boundaries” is another attempt to allocate tax dollars to the private sector. After a careful reading of his proposed bill, little imagination is required to see how having such a bill in place would facilitate the transfer of tax dollars to a small number of companies in the private sector.
Sixth, Daines stated desire to log areas damaged by fire is a non-starter. People who want logging to once again be a major industry are simply dreaming and it is those folks who Daines is playing to. The market for timber is no longer what it once was, so it is difficult to make timber sales. Even if sales were still easy, the mechanization of logging has replaced most of the people who used to work in the forest. When timber sales do take place, machines do most of the work with only a handful of workers hired to run those machines. The days of the forest being full of guys running chainsaws disappeared long ago and are unlikely to return, ever.
We now live in a world where the truth is suppressed by those who have a financial interest in allowing untruths (such as, fewer regulations will restore lots of logging jobs) to hold sway, or in using those fabrications as a means of encouraging wild speculation based upon nothing but wishes. Daines is doing the bidding of those who have a financial interest in suppressing the truth.
At one time, idealism was a dominant part of political life. Today, people like Daines, have become professional career politicians and idealism has been diluted almost to the point of disappearing.
Politics has become a world where heaps of words are used to obscure the truth. Like many politicians before him, Daines has discovered it is much easier to maintain a cunningly constructed lie than it is to uncover and discuss an unclear truth. The document that he recently mailed to Montana citizens is an example of a cleverly constructed lie.
Put simply, Daines’ activities are governed solely by attention to his career as a politician; that is the worst testimonial you can give an elected official.