For an access twist to Conservation Wednesday today, here’s a cut from what might be best summary of the access boondoggle in New Mexico that we’ve seen yet from Matthew Copeland of Stalking the Seam (which has become one of our absolute favorite reads from Home Country).
MC’s opening pitch in Wade Fishing Gets the Boot in New Mexico –
Pop Quiz:
1) If a carpenter in San Juan County purchases a New Mexico fishing license for $25, and a hedge fund manager from Connecticut purchases a lifestyle ranch on the San Juan River for $6.8 million, which purchaser acquires constitutional protection of his individual rights?
A) Neither. Rights can’t be bought or sold in the Untied States. That’s why they’re called rights.
B) The “rancher”, by virtue of the Golden Rule. He’s got the gold, so he makes the rules.
C) Rights? Who cares about rights when the Feds are a gang of incompetent, job-killing, freedom hating, anti-American Nazis hell-bent on mismanaging New Mexico’s resources and destroying our way of life? Now hand over the public land.
If you answered A, pat yourself on the back. I applaud your idealism and your faith in American democracy. You obviously paid attention in High School civics class.
If you answered B, award yourself five points. You’ve continued to pay attention since High School, and you’ve picked up on some alarming patterns in our electoral politics.
If you answered C, congratulations! You may have a future in the New Mexico state legislature.
Unfortunately this quiz is not a purely academic exercise. The answers have real world impacts on New Mexican anglers.
In case you missed it….
Read the full article here.
