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Almost every day now, there is another story in the news about people who are challenging environmental protection laws. The property rights movement has been built, and is gaining momentum on, stories like these.
Some folks appear to have legitimate grievances. Others don't. Sometimes it does seem that the government agents are being rigid and unreasonable. Sometimes the same can be said for the property owner, who just may not like being told what to do.
It seems to me, though, that if we each embark on our own separate search for justice, we will get farther away from achieving a just society.
The answer lies in looking out for each other as well as ourselves. By working together for a common purpose, citizens find mutual support, wellsprings of energy and goodwill, and the confidence to succeed. That's the positive force behind the creation of community.
Just as in so many other fields, environmental laws can be unevenly applied. Ordinary people with less time, money, and influential contacts often are cited more readily than wealthy and politically-connected big polluters and despoilers.
Government can be inaccessible, unresponsive, and inflexible when dealing with citizens. It doesn't matter whether you are liberal, moderate, or conservative -- most of us feel a cold pit in our stomach at the prospect of having to venture into the confounding maze of a government bureaucracy.
So the property rights movement is built on a valid point, but its answer for what to do about the problem -- just get rid of environmental protection laws -- is all wrong.
It is possible, with some historical perspective, to see the roots of today's property rights rebellion. Self reliance and independence are fundamental values in our culture. "Freedom From Tyranny!" has been our rallying cry since the American Revolution.
America is no longer a frontier. When this country was settled there were few people and abundant -- the phrase back then was "limitless" -- resources such as timber, minerals, game, productive farmland, and land for pioneering and homesteading.
Today, as Paul Hawken points out in his forthcoming book, "Natural Capitalism," there are 275 million people tapping into America's shrinking supply of natural resources. And by 2050, the estimated U.S. population will be about 400 million.
So our democracy now requires more than ever that citizens participate in a process of give and take. It's the secret to making our system of government work. What are my obligations to a productive and wholesome society? How am I compensated for what I give? Every situation should be judged on its own merits.
And if our government is not providing us with what we need, then it is our responsibility as citizens of the republic to insist that it do so. Not by throwing out the environmental protections that are necessary for all forms of life -- especially human -- to thrive. But by participating in our democratic government, and making it work for us.
Several of the articles in this issue illustrate how decisions based solely on one person's private property rights are not always so black and white.
• For example, in the debate over drilling in the Jordan Valley there are two sets of property rights -- whose should prevail? The mineral lessee's claims, or the public's right to own and enjoy an unspoiled natural forest?
• Similarly, in southern Manistee County, there is another contest going on. If private property rights are untouchable, then what happens when they bump into each other? Here we have state regulators placing the financial interests of those who want to drill for oil and gas above the safety and property values of the homeowners who live near the wells.
• And how about that notorious tire fire, which burned for weeks in Grawn? Were the property rights of the tire dump's owner, who was allowed by state regulators to operate in a negligent manner, really more important than the rights of nearby homeowners and schoolchildren?
These situations demonstrate what we all inherently know -- that to achieve justice, citizens must search beyond their individual interests and consider themselves as part of the larger community. We know this because we were brought up with a Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. This is the way toward achieving a new standard for a just society, one based on fairness to all.G |
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