Horses as Engines of Government Growth

Republic or Dictatorship? 

The basic distinction between a Republic and a Dictatorship is the existence
of private property.  Private property exists in a Republic and it does not
exist in a Dictatorship.  Dictatorship covers the spectrum of oppressors
from the Mugabe Dictatorship in Zimbabwe and the "limited" ("limited"
meaning the government can rescind it in a heartbeat at their pleasure)
communist governments in China and Vietnam to the "on-again, off-again"
Russian "democracy" and the socialist rulers in places like Venezuela and
Bolivia.  Dictatorships "nationalize" property, dictate the use of any
property, and take property from those they wish to punish and give it to
those they wish to reward.  In Dictatorships government "owns" everything:
in a Republic the citizens "own" everything while giving limited control of
certain property to government to "establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" per the
opening words of the Constitution of the United States.

Property is mentioned prominently on two occasions in the 5th Amendment to
the Constitution, smack dab in the middle of the first ten Amendments often
referred to as The Bill of Rights.  To wit, "nor shall any person". "be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Domestic animals have always been considered as and treated as Property.
Wild plants and animals were historically considered as the Property of the
State.  This meant that Kings and Emperors and Nobility and Commissars and
Power Cronies and the rich owned the wild plants and animals that occurred
anywhere within their authority or control.  One of the spectacular products
of the Founding of the USA was the concept that wild plants and animals no
longer belonged exclusively to property owners but to all the people and
that government held them in trust for and by authority of "We the People"
that formed and authorized the government.

Given this background, it is with growing alarm that the ownership and use
of horses in this Republic should be of concern to all Americans.

In 1976, the Congress passed The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act. This was right in the midst of the Federal legislative tsunami of
passage of The Endangered Species Act (1976), The Marine Mammal Protection
Act (1976), The Animal Welfare Act (1976), the Airborne Hunting Act (1976),
Coastal Zone Management Act (1976), Estuarine Areas Act (1976), Bald Eagle
Protection Act (1976), Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities
(1976), and at least a half dozen other such "Federal protection of
(fill-in-the-blank) Acts of 1976".  This was also the first year of the
Carter Presidency and two years after the resignation of President Nixon.
It was two and a half years after our withdrawal from Vietnam and one year
after the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese troops, but who noticed?  We
were all happy as we "saved" things, thanks to a newly powerful and
benevolent Federal government.

If there were any alarm bells or objections, there is no record and I for
one was unaware of them as I began working in Washington , DC .  In one "swell
foop" the Federal government of our Fathers used radical environmental and
animal rights agenda items to begin a march from Republican government to
Dictatorship.  How so?  By simply declaring jurisdiction over a wild animal
that was nothing more than a Domestic Animal (and a "Non-Native" species
that "destroys "native plants" or as the jargon of today has it, an
"Invasive Species") let loose, the Federal government (President, Congress
and Bureaucracy) furthered the Endangered Species/Marine Mammal/Animal
Welfare et al model of treating property as Dictatorships do.

Private ownership, state authority to regulate numbers and distribution for
the good of local communities and economies, and the right of grazers and
hunters and others to minimize the many harms (vegetation destruction,
winter range competition, disease, etc.) of excessive horse depredations
were eliminated with a "stroke of the pen" as they say. Uses of these "wild"
horses were severely restricted as to round-up, ownership (by government
grant only with "strings"), disposition for meat or hides or other products
was forbidden; in short wild horses became "special" in the eyes of the law.
Why, one might ask? Simply because some people "like" horses and believe
they are "special".  Forget for a minute all the ways the politicians and
bureaucrats and "horsey organizations" manipulated things: it was the
segment of society that is always ready at the drop of a hat to make others
live as they want them to live regardless of property rights or societal
implications (i.e. "food police", anti-2nd Amendment groups, anti gamefowl
groups, anti-trappers, anti-hunters, anti-rodeo, etc., you know all those
that are unaffected by what they impose on others).  Like those "cute" baby
seals and those "smart" whales" and those "necessary" wolves and grizzlies
and "poor" laboratory animals et al being brought under Federal perpetual
"protection": the "wild horse", even though it is domestic and destructive
and (Gasp!) Invasive, was given the quasi-human status of having "rights"
under jury-rigged Federal statute.

If anyone objected on the grounds of "the domino theory" or "incrementalism"
or "slippery slope" they would have been laughed at but they would have been
right.  As Endangered Species/Marine Mammal/Animal Welfare et al spread
their growing Federal tentacles, the Federal horse budget went to millions
annually and domestic horse owners began looking at each other and noticing
how others did not care for their horses "as they should".  Draconian animal
enforcement and regulation-proliferation for dogs and cats encouraged
thoughts of "forcing" other horse owners to meet "my" standards.  Federal
legislation to destroy gamefowl breeding and use likewise encouraged hose
owners to seek a "special" Federal legal status for their "magnificent",
"special", and "loved" horses that a few others (unenlightened bumpkins to
be sure) were calling "property".

So the Congress just passed and the President signed a law forbidding hose
owners to slaughter their horses or to sell them for slaughter or for any
slaughter house to buy horses to resell as meat for pets or people or to
sell the hides or even the gelatin for Italian gelato.  This was supported
by the rich Kentucky Derby horse owners, rich suburban guys who have wives
and daughters that love their horses, and even the modestly famous guys like
John Gibson on Fox News who showed his horses pictures and asked for support
for the bill.  The poor rancher or farmer or other horse owner had his
property right to sell his property when necessary or desirable eliminated
instantly.  He must now maintain a horse until "hell freezes over" or the
horse keels over.  There was no "due process" or "just compensation" or
"public use" involved, only raw dictatorial power.

Now for the good part.  The next time someone accuses you (hunter, trapper,
gun owner, fisherman, rancher, logger, dog owner, cat owner, logger, rodeo
rider, laboratory animal ["partner?", "custodian?", "guardian?", oh heck-]
owner, gamefowl breeder, falconer, etc., etc.) of being "paranoid" just
because "we want to establish standards" or simply "control" things: think
horses.

It seems that since passage of this "Brave New World" bit of Federal horse
protection from slaughter, about 28,000 horses have been exported to Mexico
and an untold number to Canada .  The horse "lovers" are "sure" the Mexicans
are using them in "charriadas" (rodeo-like competitions [gasp]) and then
slaughtering them.  It seems you cannot export horses for slaughter so the
Federal government is being urged to (extend their Federal animal property
controls into Canada and Mexico ?, close the borders to all horse movement?,
arrest, imprison fine and conscript the oldest male child of violators?, or
whatever) stop this "carnage".  Folks I couldn't make this stuff up if I
watched Marx Brothers movies for a solid week.

Do all of you domestic animal owners understand your stake in this?  How
about all you domestic animal users, breeders, consumers, etc.?  Do you wild
animal users not see how this is heading straight for you and your
traditions and pastimes?  Why aren't the courts throwing this stuff out?
Why are so many of us silent?  Do we really think they will stop with
horses?  What must be done to make you understand that protecting private
property rights is so necessary if we are to save our way of life?  If you
just think of property rights as something only the rich have you are SO-O-O
wrong.  Property rights protection is neither right or left, conservative or
liberal: property rights protection is the basis and cornerstone of freedom
and freedom is absolutely necessary to preserving our Republic and fending
off Dictatorship.

Wild horses are pests in the true sense of the word.  Their regulation and
control and even eradication should remain State matters managed in the
interests of State residents.  The Federal government should no more be able
to claim authority over these animals than should any other landowner on
property that the Federal government controls with other than Exclusive
Jurisdiction.  Courts and politicians should be encouraged to restore this
aspect of Republican government.  If "wild" horses and whales and seals are
"special" and can be made "untouchable" like cows in Hindu India, the use
and management of all wild animals from deer and turkeys to ducks and trout
is in jeopardy and it is only a matter of time until they are all likewise
"protected".  The use of both "wild" and domestic horses for meat and hides
and other products IS NO DIFFERENT from using cattle or sheep or turkeys or
deer or rabbits.  If you acquiesce in this "special" business for horses;
you have no hope when they eventually come for "your critter" or "your
critter use".

Domestic horses (like gamefowl and cats and dogs and cattle and sheep and
poultry and hogs and parakeets et al) are PRIVATE PROPERTY.  The Federal
government has NO JURISDICTION over them or their disposition by legal
owners except insofar as they may affect Interstate Commerce or National
Defense, period.  The Federal government has no authority, save the
indifference of a court system favorably disposed to Federal authority
growth and "do-goodism" involving significant portions of the electorate.
No matter how many people want to "protect" the property of another, the
Federal government has no authority to do such things.  Because they do them
in spite of this and get away with it, the precedents spread like wildfire
and soon enough THE GOVERNMENT "CONTROLS" (i.e. "OWNS") ALL PROPERTY.  NO private property is safe as long as we tolerate this usurpation of our
rights.

If we allow this to stand we are acquiescing in the shift of this society
from a Republic to Dictatorship.  We must oppose this Federal proliferation
by defeating State and Federal politicians that enable it and electing
politicians that will rectify it.  State bureaucracies, like Federal
bureaucracies, are a big part of the problem and must be brought under
control and reformed.

If you think it is impossible to thwart the will of so many animal
protectionists and environmental zealots manipulating bureaucrats and
politicians I would suggest you consider a passage from the Book of Exodus
written thousands of years ago.  "Neither shall you allege the example of
the many as an excuse for doing wrong, nor shall you, when testifying in a
lawsuit side with the many in perverting justice."

That was a sound admonition then and wise advice today.

Jim Beers
4 Sep. 2007

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- Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist,
Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow.
He was stationed in North Dakota , Minnesota , Nebraska , New York City , and
Washington DC .  He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western
Pacific and on Adak , Alaska in the Aleutian Islands .  He has worked for the
Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security
Supervisor in Washington , DC .  He testified three times before Congress;
twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60
Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to
expanding Federal Invasive Species authority.  He resides in Centreville ,
Virginia with his wife of many decades.