"Holdin' Out For
a Hero" "Where have all the good
men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
............................Bonnie Tyler Few of us can deny that October 99 will go down as perhaps
the darkest of days thus far in the annals of off-road history. The Clinton /
Dombek 1-2 punch has set the groundwork for yet another illegal land grab - this
time totaling another 40,000,000 (MILLION) acres of land. For the acre-ly challenged out there, that equates to a
landmass greater than the size of the Virginias combined. Land
equal to the size of two American STATES!We thought The Southern California takeover was bad......we thought the
Grand Staircase theft defied logic.......we thought that the proposed Utah
lockup was an assault on our sensibilities...... Well, it was, it does, and it is. Now what exactly have we
done to stop it from happening yet again? Oh....nothing really. Oh sure, people
have written articles, written our congressional seat warmers, voiced their
outrage and demanded an end to this millennial form of tyranny. And well they
should! Now I'm going to tell you exactly where the Outdoor
Recreation Preservation Society humped the bunk in high
style....... Oh? You say you Never HEARD of the "Outdoor
Recreation Preservation Society"???? The leading organization
in our struggle to preserve the rights that the Constitution of the United
States granted us, and by association the freedoms to pursue them? Well that's not supriseing really since it doesn't exist.
Sorry to disappoint you. No, I'm sad to say it does not exist , and I'm going to
step in the deep stuff yet again and severely upset more than a few people when
I tell you why. But then again, I've never shied away from bringing the truth to
you all, no matter how unpopular the truth was - or how unpopular the truth has
made me.
The truth is that the
inability of the various landuse groups, clubs and associations to forgo their
differences, unite under a common banner, and make a direct, intense, and
politically incorrect assault on the forces of socio-communistic inspired
"environmentalism" have left us - you and I - as architects of our own
undoing. "WE", you and yes, "I" have been mis-targeting an
extremely high percentage of our energies at the
wrong damn target.
Blasphemy you say? Crack smoker am I? "Not hardly
pilgrim", (he said in his best John Wayne voice), "Not
hardly". I will be the first man to stand up and support groups
like the Blue Ribbon Coalition, United 4 Wheel Drive, and the many, many other
groups who have been out there fighting in the trenches. Without their
determination, we'd have lost even more than we have. But after decades of what
are effectively the same strategies, meetings, articles to stir up the troops,
and "grassroots" activism, we continue to blindly place ourselves and
our respective groups in a defensive position. Always on defense, never on offense. We have talked and compromised ourselves into one loss
after another. We give, give, and give again, then go home damn thankful that we
didn't loose more of our land and our freedom, unsatisfied with what little we
did get to keep, and filled with righteous indignation about those "Damn
Eco-nuts", "Damn Politicians", Damn (insert favorite thing to
Damn here). While this is happening, The NRA goes off doing it's own
thing, BRC goes off doing it's own thing, United goes off and does it's own
thing, and only rarely do their paths ever cross. Even though by unifying their
forces, each group would dramatically bolster the other's power. Why do they do it? It's not because they haven't thought
of it a hundred times over. It's not because they all don't think it's a good
idea. It's not even because they have a fundamental difference of purpose -
because it's obvious to anyone caring to look that they don't. And what of us? Jane and Joe Off-Roader? Why in the name
of the Endangered Spotted Desert Tortoise Loving Fly have we ran in circles of
our own, apathetic to our own demise like sheep being led to the slaughter? Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, landuse groups,
clubs and recreationally related organizations, what you need is a Hero. A Hero. Perhaps you've heard of one........ One man or woman with enough cajones to blow through the
politics, red tape, and utterly pathetic bullsnot, take the guiding forces
behind these groups and "...put the spurs to their collective ass
....Pilgrim". Today we're still holdin' out for that hero, but in a time
not long gone, there walked such a man. A man who guided direction of a
movement, locked horns with the worst of the land grabbers, Eco-elitists, and
entire divisions of government....asking nothing in return. A man at peace with
his desire to ensure his corner of the world remained a land of the free for
those who would be brave. Like a gunfighter from the old west, this steely-eyed,
handlebar mustachioed throwback to a better time gave no quarter, showed no
fear, and was unfettered by the inability to tell right from wrong - or call a
spade a spade. He didn't take polls to gauge the opinion of those around him. He
didn't call staff meetings to decide what he should do next. His hands remained untied by the ropes of political
intrigue - for his was a direct approach. His mouth was never silent - for there was far too much
that needed to be said. His pen was sharper than any sword could hope to be - for
his written word alone brought many to his side, free of coercion. His actions incurred violent opposition from fanatical
hate groups like Earth First and their "mainstream" wing - The Sierra
Club". His strength of numbers incurred the legalistic wrath of
the BLM, and financial opposition of their socialistic support groups mentioned
above. His was a fight based on his love of his freedom - a fight
that came at great personal cost. His name is Rick Sieman, and I'm proud to call him my
friend. Yet today, as I've said in a previous column, he is a
pariah - an outcast from the landuse / outdoor recreation community. For some,
the methods of Rick Sieman were too extreme, and because of that mistaken
perception our cause has suffered greatly. Rather than action, we have inaction - or so little that
we continue onward achieving net loss. Rather than the spreading of truth, we
are saddled with the widespread use of "compromise" as the preferred
bargaining tool. Rather than unanimous action that sends a clear signal to the
self appointed / elected "powers that be", we remain fragmented;
wandering aimlessly with no plan, no strategy, nothing other than a desire to
get back the things our apathy and inaction have GIVEN AWAY. Now in all fairness, we do win one for the Gipper every so
often. Unfortunately that will matter little in the end. At the rate of losing
40,000,000 acres a pop, that end is crashing down quickly around our unmoving
heads. What we need is a hero cast in the mold of Rick Sieman,
but the man has done his part for King and Country. The time has come for the
gauntlet to be passed down. The shoes are big, the load is heavy, and the path
is long. Unfortunately the line for succession is short indeed. Yes, we are indeed holding out for the next hero but the
question is, how long can we hold on? "It's
Not Easy Being Green" - Article Index
Links to so called
"Environmental Organizations" The Sierra Club Homepage - http://www.sierraclub.org
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance - http://www.suwa.org/
Earth First! Homepage - http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/campaigns/ef/pubs/aulat.html | 
