Spring is
the best time of year for planting railroad ties. It
is not that moderate temperatures and moist soils
promote rapid germination, it is because post holes
are impossible to dig in the frozen ground of winter
and the sunbaked soils of summer and fall. Last
week, I set a couple braces to square a pasture
fence with true north. A decade ago, I haphazardly
slapped up a fence splitting the hay meadow in front
of my house and the south end was nearly 100 feet
too far to the east. Apparently, I suffer from
square-fence disorder; a syndrome for which there is
no cure other than squaring the dang fence. So I
did.
I am telling you this because I was amazed at how
dry the soils were from the surface down to the
three-foot level. I noticed this same lack of
moisture two springs ago when I returned home from
the 63rd Montana Legislative Session and burned off
my accumulated frustrations by re-setting the
outhouse by my hangar. Because the depth of one’s
privy extends its lifespan, I post-barred my way
through five feet of dusty hard pan. After staking
the outhouse down, I stepped back and admired my
work knowing that unlike my previous four months in
Helena, my efforts with my outhouse were not going
to be negated by a governor’s veto. Oops, I rambled
a little, so I will get back to my point; we are in
a drought.
Man-caused climate change was an easy con in Montana
during the dry springs of 2013 and 2015. However,
during flood years, it takes either an exceptionally
devious ruling class, or a very gullible audience to
advance the hoax soil moisture and temperatures can
be controlled through regulation. California might
have both, because the Golden State ruling class has
successfully convinced 40 million city kids living
in the desert is a great idea by reassuring them
progressive rulers can make it rain by implementing
carbon taxes. Here is the truth.
California’s drought is a man-made disaster as
nearly 200 million acre feet of water fall on its
surface every year; an amount which could supply a
population 20 times larger than California if all
precipitation could be captured. It can’t and not
because of physics, but because of progressivism.
Droughts are a progressive’s perfect storm because
it creates dependency. Environmental regulations
have blocked every California dam project for the
past 35 years, resulting in the flushing of nearly
21 million acre feet of water into the sea annually
to save a myriad of little fishes hell-bent on
becoming extinct despite our best efforts. An
average four person household consumes one acre-foot
per year, so the water flushed to the ocean to save
the Desert Smelt could serve a population of 84
million Californians. Before you jump to the
conclusion Golden State residents are especially
foolish, consider the fact the Montana Legislature
advanced nearly the same progressive regulation by
passing the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Water
Compact. Here is how.
Nearly all water rights in 11 counties, west of
Montana’s Continental Divide will soon be under
federal government control with minimum stream flow
determining who gets water. California here we come.
Agricultural lands will dry up, property values will
plummet and with no other option, country folks will
begin migrating to the cities where the ruling class
knows they will be easier to control. So to answer
my initial question, “Are you smarter than a
Californian?” Apparently not, thanks to the 53
Montana Representatives and the 31 Senators who
supported the CSKT Compact. Legislation increasing
the power of government over the rights of common
man is contrary to America’s constitutional republic
and politicians honoring their oath of office should
reject such regulation. Few do.
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