I disagree. Almost no one ever talks about rolling back some environmental regulations, atleast no politicians do, except perhaps in limited cases (like allowing drilling on a few thousand acres of the almost twenty million acre ANWR), or to say that the regulation was pushed to quickly and should be examined more first (like the arsenic in water regulations that Clinton pushed through as he was walking out the door and turning off the lights at the white house). When politicians do this they are often slapped down and if they are not they still lose popularity. Democrats mostly push for more environmental laws, Republicans usually say "I support that too but go slower", the Libertarian party is insignificant, and the green party while insignificant as well is growing. Your right about the two views not being in balance, they are titled towards the environmentalist position, perhaps not the "wacko environmentalist" position but definitely not towards the idea of strong property rights and limited government.
Tim, you are coming to that conclusion based solely on what the national politicians are doing. That's just one aspect of the confrontations over the environment....and a small one at that. There are constant clashes between the private sector and environmentalists and/or private citizens on a regular basis throughout this country. These are small battles that rarely make the national news and oft times are lost in favor of the private sector.
The pressure on our environment is enormous. Each year, we loose a considerable number of farmland and forested acres to urban sprawl. In many instances there were alternatives to using this land but the land was either too costly or too difficult to develop so it was skipped over. The city is held hostage by the private firm...you allow us to develop this land or we go to another city. Meanwhile, the result is another assault on the environment and the ecological system. We keep pushing the animals out further and further, upsetting the delicate balance that exists.
The attitude in this country is that its an American right to do whatever you want to whatever piece of land you can get your hands on. If the local gov't objects, screams of foul and unamerican are heard. Only in a few places are jurisdictions putting real environmental restictions in place. So I can not agree that the balance is in favor of the environmentalists. On the contrary, the balance runs the other way.
ted |
