BY RUSSELL TURNER
PET RATTLESNAKES
If there is one truth in life it is the fact that you cannot make a pet out of a rattlesnake. You can put a rattlesnake in a box and feed him mice every day, but in the end he will not care anymore for you than any other person who happens to cross his path. If anyone doubts what I have just said, simply put your hand down in the box and try to pet your snake on the head and see what happens. Government bureaucracies often have a lot in common with a snake, and many of our elected representatives will also bite you when you least expect it.
Being a conservative I firmly believe in the idea of private property, that one tenant of our system has been the greatest tool to improve the lives of the American people. There is something about giving a man the right to use his land as he sees fit; while there is always the chance he will fail, we Americans will do the hard work to make our dreams come true. I live in a rural area and we have enjoyed the freedom to take a raw piece of land and manipulate it into a working farm that can produce food for hundreds of hungry people. For many years the urban areas in our cities have had zoning laws that limit the citizens on what they could or could not do on their land, now there is legislation before the legislature that, if approved, would place restrictions upon people in the rural areas.
Being a republican I believe in private property rights, but not all republicans share that ideal. RINO Republican State Senator Roger Thompson has authored Senate Bill 10 that would impose zoning regulations upon the rural areas in the state of Oklahoma. It would require the County Commissioners to create a zoning board that would have the authority to deny rural residents from making improvements on their land. Has everyone forgotten the county commissioner scandals of the 1980’s? From personal experience I know that the good ole boy system is still alive in many of the rural Oklahoma counties. I am not ready to allow my livelihood to be decided by the cronyism system that is in play across our state.
Over the past several years there have been many people moving from the cities and buying small parcels of land in the country to build homes on. While some may support the idea of zoning to prevent farmers and ranchers from using their land which may be next to them in the way they see fit, they need to be reminded of a simple fact. They may think that they can do whatever they want with their small tract of land and build whatever kind of house they want, but those zoning requirements could prevent them from building the kind of house they could afford. We all need to be careful of making assumptions about what government bureaucracies will do; you may think that snake will only bite your neighbor, but more than likely you will also be bit. Another assumption we need to get over is thinking that all Republicans share the conservative belief system; Roger Thompson is a classic example. Sadly our Republican delegation in the state legislature is becoming more liberal; on the campaign stump they come across as conservative, but their actions prove otherwise. While I do not agree with the liberal democrat agenda at least they are honest about what they believe. Being faithful to one’s party is admirable, but we need to be faithful to our conservative principles and not elect RINO’s like Roger Thompson.
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