The Random Opinion Page

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Last updated8-20-2000 20:51

Earth Day:

Earth Day is an oppurtunity for people from school children to politicians to celebrate what seem to be an innoculous and fundamental institution of American life. What is really being celebrated though? We have become so accustomed to the enviromentalist's campaigns that most of us fail to question the basic premise of their entire crusade. Enviromentalism is not necessarily a noble purpose. Through TV shows, educational programs, and media slant we have become largely indoctranated. Thanks to "quality educational programing(sic)" every school child has the image of the sadistic corporations spewing radioactive waste into the ocean for the sole purpose of killing smiling dolphins. (While flipping channels I have seen at least 10 cartoons with variations on this theme). The bottom line is that enviromentalism is just one more part of the arsenol being used to attack the sucessful.

It first must be said that very little is actually done by the Earth Day participants. Earth Day is basically a chance for many people to engage in feel good activism. It is a chance for people to speak out on a non contraversial issue and then feel like they have benifited the world in some nobel way. Earth Day also seemes to be the impetus for much eco-legislation. This legslation is harmful and has probably set American industries back by years. These acts generally produce negligable benifits, outstanding cost to the business, and great honors to the politician who lead the crusade.

Earth Day is not a celebration but an attack. It is an assult on all the progress and advancements of the last couple of centuries. Quite simply to hold enviromentalism as a virtue is to value trees over humans. I do not advocate intentional sabotage of the enviroment, however, I believe that no action is needed to protect the environment as it is a self-regulating system(Any study that says otherwise is biased and can not be proven)*. It is time to question the place of environmentalism as an American institution. Earth Day is little more than a reminder of a skewed set of ideals which are rampant and currently unquestioned in our society.

* In this essay I am refering to the numerous doomsday predictions about Earth's ecosystems. I do not believe that global warming is a genuine threat; furthermore I do not believe that global warming is the result of the industrialization process. Here is how i back up these claims:

• We have proof of several ice ages in the past- this shows that the Earth's general weather patterns are cyclic- We are merely in one of the inevitable warming stages at present. This warming trend will peak, like it has in the past, and then cool down again.
• The earth has a tendency to regulate its self. The current warming trend is blamed largely on the CO₂ in the atmosphere. With warmer temperatures and higher Carbon Dioxide levles plants thrive. The result- higher leveles of Oxygen.
• Though warmer temperatures may cause a gradual rise of sea levles they will also yield a greater habitable area. Rising sea levels are not as ominous as they might sound. Because of the time scale on which these changes occur they will be imperceptable. We do not live in a static environment and these changes are bound to happen.
• The warmest times in our geologic history correspond to the golden ages of human technological achievement.

GUN CONTROL:

America has always been a land of freedom. We take it for granted that it will forever remain that way. I love my country and that is why I fear the trends which are becoming more and more apparent with every day. Among the most frightening of these trends is the frequency and intensity of the the attacks on our second ammendment rights. Attacks on gun ownership have become the favorite sport of press and talk show hosts. Tragedies involving guns have culprits... the culprits are not the guns. The culprits are the criminals. In the current liberal mindset of our courts it is best to make excuses for the criminal and prosecute the guns.

Current gun control laws are not enforced. The goverment will not enforce the current laws, however, the current administration seems ready and eager to create new ones. These new proposals go beyond the bounds of justified protective means and border on oppression. The second ammendment rights are not given to us by the bill of rights but merely reaffirmed as they should be inaliable. Furthermore it is one of the rights which it is the goverment's responsibility to protect.

Why do we have these rights? What the second ammendment is defending is the right to self defense. The Goverment's purpose is to defend the rights of it's citizens. That is why we pay taxes- that is why we are subject to the laws and regulations of the nation- to have our rights defended. . The goverment is not omnipresent, they are not entirely able to protect every citizen from criminals and this is where self defense comes in.What many seem to have lost sight of is the fact that the individual does not exist for the goverment but the goverment for the individual. On the same note it is not the goverment's responsibility to protect citizens from themselves but to protect citizens from criminals.

The goverment needs to be accountable to its citizens. Allowing it's citizens to own guns provides a check and balance. Throughout history before an oppressive goverment can establish itself it must disarm its citizens. Although I do not believe that this will happen in the U.S. it is imperitive that we do not ignore this terrifying trend. America is one of the greatest and most free nations in the world. It is important that we not take this freedom for granted. We must preserve our inaliable rights and not allow them to be whittled away in the name of security.

In this essay I am speaking broadly of gun control legslation referring to both gun registration and to even more extreme measures to which these acts will inevitability progress. I would like to conclude by asking a question. If the law abiding citizens don't have guns who does? The current trend in our culture is to lean more towards control than to individual responsibility. Punish the criminal not the law abiding citizens -make each person accountable for their own actions. The blame for the tragedies which have occured should not fall on guns but rather on the depraved individuals who committed the crimes and the philosophy which defends them.