Pearce casts blame

Unfortunately, Rep. Pearce complains and beats up on the federal management agencies for his personal gain and the appeasement of his right-wing base. Rep. Pearce seems to hate public land and tries to degrade natural resources at every turn. He pretends to know the law but remains ignorant of the law itself. The National Environmental Policy Act process gives all citizens the right to comment on proposed activities and appeal if they think a decision is wrong, including the sole constituent supporter Rep. Pearce quotes so extensively in his recent op-ed.

Mr. Pearce tries to squeeze Forest Service budgets while demanding more services and disregarding natural resources. Closing some road access to motorized vehicles on public lands is a win-win solution for protecting resources while saving taxpayer dollars.

Please tell the BLM and Forest Service you support clean water, wildlife habitat and soil stability and you love public lands for all the values they offer. Please tell Mr. Pearce that to lose nature is to lose ourselves. What we dominate we inevitably destroy. He does not represent our values.

Wise people seek solutions, ignorant people only cast blame.


Silver City

Limit voting rights

Elections are of utmost importance since the results heavily impact every aspect of a republic society. The consequences of electing leaders for the wrong reasons can be dire. Incredibly, it's obvious that most people don't recognize this fact.

We readily understand the importance of becoming competent to drive before obtaining a drivers license, we all believe hunters should know how to safely handle a gun before embarking on a hunting trip, and we're firmly aware that improper use of power tools is hazardous. Unequivocally, everyone realizes that primal concept: know what you're doing before you do it, except, that is, when it comes to elections.

Virtually everyone believes that it is essential to "get out the vote" and "urge everyone to exercise their right to vote." This is absolute nonsense, and precisely why we elect leaders who fail us. Historically, we have voted for and elected people because they are eloquent speakers, attractive, charismatic, and promise us stuff they really can't deliver. This is a cultist effect. Our leaders should be elected on the basis of their experience, past record, competence, moral integrity, governing philosophy and intelligence.

While we have occasionally been lucky and have had excellent leaders, we have often been sorely disappointed. For the reasons stated above, we even re-elect poor leaders. Given the current prevailing attitude that everyone should vote, regardless of their knowledge of our government and the significant issues we face today, it's unlikely to change anytime soon. A good starting point might be to limit voting rights to those who contribute to society by paying taxes, and at least speak English. Those that don't agree with this are driven by emotions, not logic and common sense. Everyone should have a right to vote, but at least they should know what they are doing.


Las Cruces