Political Theater

The commission chambers were filled to the point of overflowing into the halls of the Clark County Government Center on the May 4 County Commission meeting. This was to be the third time the resolution, in support of the Gold Butte NCA, came before the commissioners. However one distinct difference was that this go around there was time allocated for public comment.

From the show of hands, as requested by Chairman Reid in both support and opposition to the resolution, the room was more or less evenly divided. Those on the commissioners left were in support of the resolution and those on the commissioner’s right were in opposition to the resolution.

The left wing of the chamber was filled with representatives of various groups including Nevada Wilderness Project, Sierra Club, and The Center for Biological Diversity, and the likes. The right was filled with long time local families, the descendants of the pioneers who settled this great country and people who love, enjoy and have been stewards of this beautiful desert country.

The commission chamber was nothing more than an elaborate stage for the political theater to develop in the drama that has become Gold Butte. The main roles have already been cast, the plot premeditated, and the director working in the shadows to ensure all goes according to design. The public hearing was nothing more than marginalizing the supporting actors and allowing them their three minutes on stage.

Both sides feed on the others misconceptions. It is in this chaos that those in position find the opportune time to take advantage of the crisis.

The resolution passed with overwhelming support in the county commission.

As I have said before the inadequacy of the proposed solution creates more vulnerability for that which the original intent was to protect. The future of our public lands will become ensnared in a mire of bureaucratic mud with which the only solution will be to restrict the liberties of those who have come to enjoy which are rightfully theirs.

Though the final nail has yet to be driven in the coffin of access to public lands the construction of that coffin is well underway. I am not one who is normally gloom and doom however I must take into account the reality of what is in the making.

If history is any indicator, the bureaucratic management tools passed down from the Hill will work only in favor of restricted access to public lands.

If those who created the laws would live by the laws they created the BLM would have the opportunity to finish the process they have already begun, to manage the public lands in the lands best interest, not the best interests of special interests.