Time for a Revolution

It is time for a revolution.

Anybody who knows me will understand that this is not a statement I make lightly. I am a quiet, unassuming, law-abiding citizen. But enough is enough.

I say we need a peaceful revolution to overturn our current two-party political system. It just isn't working for the vast majority of Americans. Our voices have been silenced by the greed and money-grubbing of our elected officials. No longer do they work for their constituents' best interests, but at the whim of the lobbyists and corporations who pay them and contribute to their reelection campaigns. We need viable third and fourth parties, and we need to throw out those in Congress and in state legislatures who have lost sight of the people for whom they should be working. Our forefathers overthrew a government they believed failed to represent them, and we need to do the same.

And we need a revolution to make our voices heard by the fish and game boards and commissions that are supposed to protect our wildlife, but that instead have sold out big-time to the ranching industry.  Why is the state of Wyoming executing an entire family of wolves -- from an airplane -- after a rancher, for the second time, decided to graze his cattle, on public land, near a wolf den? This is the second time a wolf family has been murdered after being set up by this rancher and the Wyoming officials charged with protecting wildlife. As a result of these acts and similar decisions by officials in other states, I have sworn off eating beef.

I have signed petitions and sent e-mails, but nothing seems to work. We little people simply don't have the financial resources the cow and sheep ranching industries have. We cannot compete, and our voices are not being heard. The problem, of course, is how to make our voices heard. How do we make officials, whether appointed or elected, know that we will no longer accept the slaughter of our wildlife to please those who graze their herds on public land at below-market-value prices? How do we get people to listen to us?

Which species -- wolf or cattle -- contribute more to a healthy ecosystem? Which species -- wolf or cattle -- are major polluters? Which species -- wolf or cattle -- was here first?

The answer to those questions is easy. The answer to how to get the officials charged with supposedly protecting the wildlife that belong to all of us, on our public lands, isn't o easy.