Power in Numbers: A Call to Rural Americans

It surprised no one. Last October, the president of the United States did an end run on the planning process that dictates management of the areas many of us call home.

Unable to muster the necessary votes in Congress to achieve his extreme agenda of discontinuing timber management on national forests, the president simply issued another heavy-handed directive from the Oval Office.

Forty million acres of forest land-coveted by the eco-conflict industry for years and needed by the administration to boost the eco-stock of Al Gore-have been removed from all planning while necessary steps are taken to set it all aside permanently.

Clearly, the lip service long given our local communities about "local government" has been little more than window dressing. It is going to be increasingly difficult to get folks to show up and work with our local officials and other stakeholders when the man at the top is so callously set on wiping away our years of compromise with the stroke of his pen.

Clearly, the folks we work with at the Forest Service locally are as impotent in dealing with the front office as we are. Clearly, the agenda of lock-up is going to continue being pursued by this administration and promoted as a legacy of achievement regardless of the true impact on our national forests or our rural environment and culture. Clearly, the agenda promoters know the truth about the health of the forests being set aside, yet are gleefully sacrificing these millions of acres to the alter of fire. Clearly, the importance of the 2000 election has never been more dramatically underscored.

What can we do? We must educate ourselves on how to quit being politically impotent. The current situation is an outgrowth of two realities: 1) our rural areas are seen to be politically impotent, and 2) rural areas have not taken steps to disprove reality #1.

Many of us have for years bemoaned another reality-that only about 20 percent of the American public lives in rural areas. This reality is actually our biggest asset.

If energized, that 20 percent is a powerful voting block. Consider the national implication: 20 percent of 270 million is 54 million. If 70 percent of this total is voting age, and if 80 percent of these rural eligible voters actually vote, we are 30 million strong. Rural voters can change the face of politics and ensure that our voice, our issues and our communities are heard.

A group of concerned citizens has formed a League of Rural Voters to make this concept a reality. The League will study the votes of incumbents and the intentions of candidates and report the findings to members. Other proactive, pro-rural plans and programs are in the works.

This new group is not affiliated with any political party because rural folks don''''t care about parties-we care about leaders reflecting the values and fighting for the issues of the places we call home. The League will ask members to do a few focused things: register to vote, read the index provided by the League, and then vote.

Rural voters can and must have a larger voice in politics, both at the ballot box and in the halls of our legislatures and Congress.

Bruce Vincent is executive director of Communities for a Great Northwest, a Libby, Montana-based educational organization that works to advance public policy balance of environmental, economic and social values. The League of Rural Voters is based in Whitehall, Montana. For membership or other information about either organization, call 406-293-8844.

Also See:
Endangered Species

Emissions Control

Help Wanted

Forest Certification Part II

Technology Management

It's the Moisture Stupid

Industry Watch