Communism in Soledad Canyon?

Let’s assume for a moment that the government agencies responsible for cutting Briggs Road off from the world actually mean to perform a kindness. We will do our best to suspend our incredulity and try to figure out why the folks in charge might imagine they are doing good deeds.

First, consider the California Department of Fish and Game. Maybe they really do care about the stickleback in the river, but these guys are a tough one to figure out. If they really were holding a bunch of fish in higher esteem than human beings, then we might consider them rabid Democrats, or even Tree Huggers and roll our eyes. But actually they hold film-makers in higher esteem than the fish. That’s right; they allow film-makers to cross the river but not us. One might argue at this point that they are actually callous Republicans, but then what about the fish? Real Republicans would not value fish more than people, even if they did consider human beings inconsequential next to their businesses.

I cannot justify even a stupid altruistic motive for Fish and Game. Something is fishy here.

Second, take a sympathetic look at the Southern California Regional Rail Authority. Suppose the only notion working here is that the people in charge just want to close all those “dangerous” crossings. Let’s even give them that it is possible for someone to be so single-minded that they miss the fact that many dozens of other at-grade crossings, far more dangerous than ours, remain open.

In the years after World War II psychologists concerned themselves with the psychological mechanism that allowed everyday people to become monsters. Social scientists developed a measurement they called the f-scale, where the “f” stood for fascist. A compulsive rule-follower rated high on the f-scale, and had a high potential for authoritarian abuses. If there is a better altruistic explanation I hope someone will send it to us via comment, but right now the best we can figure is we are dealing with some kind of Railroad-Crossing Nazi, of a mind-set similar to Seinfeld’s Soup-Nazi. But though the actions of railroad officials are damaging our property values and quality of life, they are not necessarily working to oust us from our homes. At least that is not their prime objective.

It is the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy that appears bent on turning our region, including our own private property, into a park-like area dedicated to animals and the public. I am all for parks, but wonder why it is necessary for every acre, every home to be sacrificed to the State of California. When private land is taken over without fair compensation by the government, isn’t that what we call Communism?

Americans have not taken to Communism because they do not want what is happening to the Briggs Road community to happen to them—and who could blame them? But if our property is being devalued, and it is, without the compensation guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment (Eminent Domain), with the intent of takeover by the State, what else can you call it but Communism?

Beyond the evils of sacrifice of property, Communism seems to be fertile ground for dictatorship and corruption. This is all the more reason that Americans feared it so, and why it has fallen in so many countries. It might be interesting to see whether our home-grown communists show similar tendencies. That’s a homework assignment for you.

We wish Mr. Antonovich would make this ethical cause a priority, but he seems somehow comfortable with the way things are going and we wonder why.

Does it worry you that this communistic turn of mind might spread to distress your life? It should worry you. The spread of Communism used to be a major concern of this country, until it finally collapsed of its own ineffectiveness and U.S. resistance.

We don’t have time to wait for that to happen here.

Our Plight is Your Plight

Our little rural community of eleven families and numerous bare-land owners has been struggling for the past nine years to survive. First closed in by admitted criminals, we are now legally landlocked by public agencies of the County of Los Angeles and the State of California. We have been fed lies after lies after lies, but have never been given a believable reason for the official maneuvers that have reduced our property values by 80% and more.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States asserts “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” So consider this measly way around eminent domain: landlock thousands of acres of property, wreck their values, and sit back and wait for everybody to give up, move away and stop paying taxes.

We have tried every remedy we can think of. The Title Insurance companies won a lawsuit over one piece of the necessary easement, only to be confronted by three more blockages created by agencies of Los Angeles County and the State of California. We will be recounting strategies we have tried, in posts on this blog. We anticipate that readers will suggest others.

We Americans are recovering from a hard kick to the heart. A realization has been forced upon us, in a strikingly rude way, that our elected representatives do not represent us, that they are not at all concerned with the welfare of the American People.

It doesn’t matter what your politics are. Maybe you support the idea of universal health care, maybe you do not. Maybe you believe in rights for the as-yet-unborn, maybe you believe in a woman’s right to control her own body. Maybe you insist that guns be controlled, maybe you hold to our right to bear arms.

It doesn’t matter! And it doesn’t matter what our elected representatives believe. You don’t enforce your opinion by making trouble for the American People.  

Like it or not, we are all at risk together. If the recent shutdown did not demonstrate that, then you might as well stop reading. But the rest of us, the vast majority of the American People, now recognize that too many elected representatives have found too many ways to abuse their power. If we can’t change national politics right now, we can start in our neighborhoods.

Most abusers of the public good scurry for cover when the light goes on. We beg your participation as follows:

1.       Our story is too long to tell on one page. We will tell the story in regular installments on this blog. We ask you to follow, comment, and subscribe.

2.       At some point, and it might not be long from now, you will understand the injustice of our plight. We ask that when you do, you do more than just read. Jot a note or an email to let our oppressors know that you are on to them. Turn others on to our blog.

3.       It is important that all of us realize that this abuse of power and neglect of the People’s well-being is epidemic. If we can demonstrate that informed, participating citizens have the wherewithal to shame public officials into decency, we win a victory for all. We expect that other cases all over America will come to light and be brought to our readers’ attention. We pledge to study and support the causes of others and ask that our readers do the same.

Think of all the good that united Americans have accomplished! National policies have changed. The very consciousness of the People has evolved. When I was a kid in New Jersey, the idea of a Black or female bus driver was unthinkable, just to pose one astounding example. Together we can do amazing things. These are the grass roots.

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