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Show GUEST EDITORIAL Oh Beautiful America, Where Have You Gone? By Toni Thayer ' The Reclaim America workshop, work-shop, designed to bring new hope for restoring what has been ' lpst, is set for Rubys Inn at ; ' Iryce on June 14. You might ; wonder why you should come if 'you 're not a rancher or a public lands user. Or, maybe you work for a government agency or are ' an environmentalist and think the topic of discussion will , oppose your point of view. . None of these arguments :.irelate to Reclaim America. The 'only criteria for participation is ,to be a true, blue American with a desire for the country to operate oper-ate under the powers, privileges, rights, and freedoms upon. - which it was founded. : i , Most of us are proud to be an .American, supporting our ''F6unding Fathers' principles as - 'outlined in the U.S. : Constitution. However, many .' of us today are feeling squeezed, -and helpless and small against a mighty Federal government that too often fails to function under Constitutional provisions or listen lis-ten to its people. Growing up in the land of the free and the brave, we've gotten the crazy idea that we can be successful if we just try hard enough, because that's what the American dream is all about. Later in life, as adults, we discover dis-cover that the dream has turned into working day and night, all the while barely keeping our heads above water, leaving families fam-ilies struggling and torn apart. For years, we joked about our country running amuck and how it was being taken over by greedy, corporate interests. At the time, we were secure in our own material possessions and lazy with our abundant lifestyles. It seems ironic today when people ask, "What's happened to our country? Why isn't the Federal government honoring its contracts and our laws? How much have we already lost?" America's recent woes can generally be traced back to plans more world-wide than our own U.S. Constitution, plans in the (See EDITORIAL on page 4A) Guest Editorial From Page 2A form, of international treaties designed to equalize the world's standard of living. This means bringing the standards of developed devel-oped nations down, and bringing, bring-ing, up those for under-developed nations. Under NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) American businesses business-es and investments have gone to Mexico, and our markets have been flooded with Mexican and Canadian imports. Now, we have . CAFTA and SAFTA (Central American and South African Free Trade Agreements) coming into play. In 2000, America opened free trade with China, and since then, our . manufacturers, investors and companies have shut down their .American enterprises and flocked to China and other Asian countries where wages and overhead expenses are less due to fewer government regulations regula-tions and standards. r During these same years, 1994-2000, America slowed its own resource production and increased its imports of natural resources, thereby, eliminating more American jobs. Much of this reduction was done under the veil of environmental concern con-cern and protection, "Change the Heart, Change the Nation". After eliminating- small American resource producers, global developers, disguised as environmental leaders, moved into Asia, South Africa and South America to extract their resources and resell them to the developed nations. The question before us now is not whether we will have the right to ' determine our livelihoods liveli-hoods and destinies. It's a matter mat-ter of whether all future Americans will have opportunities opportuni-ties to fulfill their dreams and pursue their lifelong goals. As Americans, it's our responsibility to ensure that all future generations will inherit a country that continues to operate as our forefathers originally intended with all of their rights still intact. Those who founded this nation declared "with a firm reliance on divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." What are we willing to pledge to keep what they won for us? The focus of Reclaim America will be a workable, . lawful plan with something for everyone who cares about our nation founded "under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice jus-tice for all." We can do something; we must do something. |