- Thank you so much. God, it's great to be back here. A
few of you know I was raised in Grant's Pass Oregon, so I have webbed feet
and I can identify. About two years ago I married my hero. And he's here
and I'd like to introduce him, Wayne Hage.
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- Well, we're in a war, aren't we folks? You know, back
at the turn of the century, a hundred years ago, the government said,
"Go
west young man, go west." And we believed our government. After all,
it was that same government that brought us through the war of
independence.
Where just a few gathered initially in Samuel Adams cabin to plan the
revolution,
thirteen people, that was all. And they won the war of independence.
Freedom.
Freedom is still the issue.
-
- Then we went through the Civil War. Although some of
my friends from the south say that it wasn't at all civil. But the fact
is we went through some bloody wars in this country. After the turn of
the century the government promised to our veterans who were victorious,
after World War I, "Come west young man, come west. Come to the
Klamath
Basin. Come to settle the west. We will work out a system where we will
loan you the ability to have water and land, you pay back on the
note."
(which our farmers and ranchers have done (for the) Bureau of Reclamation
projects.) "We will give you every opportunity to settle the west
because we as a country need to have our country settled from shining sea
to shining sea." And so, to the veterans went the prize. And veterans,
after they fought for us and came to victories in World War I and World
War II, came in to the Klamath Basin and continued to settle after the
Czechs and the Irish and the Indians had settled here first. This beautiful
land became known as the Klamath Basin.
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- The Klamath Basin flows about 1.2 million acre feet of
water a year and only 30% or 400,000 acre feet goes to the farmers, the
ranchers, the wildlife refuge and to the homeowners who irrigate off of
this system. But you know what? They want it all don't they? They want
it all. And as the Wall Street Journal says this is a rural cleansing.
And I can tell you ladies and gentlemen, that it is not just happening
here in Klamath Basin.
-
- It's happening all over the west. My husband was the
first rancher in the west to have his cattle taken by the federal
government.
And sold illegally and they kept the money, by the way. Just last week,
two weeks ago, our neighbor had his cattle taken off his private property.
And we were able to stop the BLM and the sale of those cattle. So we are
beginning to win.
-
- Step by step together. And I was so intrigued by Holly
Swanson's comments; I've been intrigued by all the comments by all the
speakers today. But I was intrigued by her comments because she described
what's really behind this. But in addition to Holly's comments I want to
say this, I remember Watergate. And I remember deep throat saying to
Woodward,
"That what's really behind this is you just follow the money."
And let me tell you it hasn't changed from what those famous words of
Theodore
Roosevelt were that it really is the monopolists that are really behind
this. I'm not inclined to be a conspiracy theorist person but the fact
is, once we're removed from the land, who will have the land?
-
- The fact is when you read Raul Arnold's book, "Undue
Influence," you find out who is giving to nature conservancy and the
Sierra Club and the Oregon Environmental Council. You find out who these
people are. You follow the money and you will be able to identify the
problem.
The fact is that we're at war with a group of individuals who really are
using government and the environmental movement to further their ends.
And the fact is we need to begin to recognize what we're up against.
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- You know Thomas Sowell is one of my favorite authors.
And it was Thomas Sowell who wrote in the Wall Street Journal with regards
to the environmentalists who are carrying the water in these issues, and
happily doing so. They are very well funded. He wrote of those people,
"Too often we find the notion that the shrill and self righteous
people
who push this stuff are some kind of noble crusaders. Thinking only of
higher things." Sowell went on to write, "...instead of as the
selfish and arrogant bigots and bullies that they really are. The essence
of bigotry is claiming for yourself the rights that you would deny to
others."
And the green bigots who call themselves environmentalists do this all
the time. And that is the case, but the fact is - what is so neat about
what is happening here today and what has happened in the Klamath Basin
- is (that) finally in the west we're beginning to come together.
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- As I look out across this audience I see my friends like
(unclear), and Jack Streeter, and a lot of my friends from even northern
Idaho who have come in from Idaho. Julie Smithson who came all the way
from Darby, Ohio for this fight. She's a real hero. That's the fight back
there where the federal government is trying to push (out) a group of
farmers-
who are Amish by the way - who's farms are beautifully manicured all the
way to the pavement on the road. Beautiful. Trying to push them off their
land. Finally America is waking up and saying, "No!" They are
drawing a line in the sand and, like the farmers at Concord, who said,
"We knew when they came to take our guns we knew they aimed to take
our freedom. So we stood up and fought." And now when Americans are
saying across this nation, even as far back as Darby, Ohio, "When
they came to take our water, when they came to take away our land we knew
they aimed to take away our freedom that it's time to fight." And
that's what's happening.
-
- You know that we may not always be politically correct.
In fact I am totally amazed, when I lived in Grant's Pass we had these
sucker fish that were in our irrigation ditches they were constantly
bothersome.
And the fact is we're having to release water not only for the suckerfish
but the Coho Salmon. And I still find it amazing even after having been
in congress, and even going through this debate for six to eight years
on the front lines, I still find it amazing that a species, the salmon,
that is declared endangered, we can buy off the shelf in a can in
Albertson's.
It doesn't make sense.
-
- And so those who would be politically correct can't
debate
us on the issue, no, they want to throw rocks. They want to denigrate us
personally. Which, you know it was Charlton Heston who said about political
correctness, " It's just tyranny with manners." You know Heston
went on to say, "I wish for you the courage to be unpopular.
Popularity
is history's pocket change. And courage is history's true currency."
And you have the courage of your convictions. I am so proud of you and
so proud to be a part of this program today.
-
- I just want to sum up my comments with this story. First
of all, how many of you saw the movie the Patriot? Isn't that great? I'm
so glad you saw it. You know, when I was in congress I wanted to reproduce
that movie 435 times and sent it to every single one of my colleges and
say, "This is the reason that we are here." What's in the
Patriot,
it's a fight for freedom. Freedom is the issue. And we've got to be willing
to lay down everything we have, as he did, for freedom. But you remember
when he went to the first meeting in the town hall and they wanted him
to join up and fight for independence, do you remember that? He stood up
and he said, "Would you rather be ruled by one tyrant 3000 miles away
or 3000 tyrants one mile away?" And at that time everybody thought,
"3000 tyrants one mile away isn't possible." Well, you drive
through Klamath Falls and you look at the businesses that have closed down
and look at the site of the old Klamath Mill. Look what 3000 tyrants one
mile away have done. Then look at the great buildings of the US Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management. It's happened. There's been a huge
transfer of wealth and power. And we need to take it back.
-
- Do remember in the Patriot, towards the very end, the
very last battle? His son who was ultimately killed, Gabriel, had picked
up an American flag that was in the dirt, and that's the last thing we
want to see is the American flag in the dirt. He picked it up and when
he could he sewed it back together again. Gabriel ultimately died. But
in the last battle his father, the patriot, was carrying the flag. During
the last battle he was busy fighting. And someone else took the flag and
the flag fell. Again. And our troops began to retreat. Do you remember
the patriot picked up that flag and he said, "No retreat!"? No
retreat! Hold the line! Hold the line!" and finally the troops came
in behind him. We won the battle. Ultimately we won the war.
-
- So understand that's what you're saying if you're in
Klamath Falls. No retreat. Hold the line.
-
- And I just want to close with a story. General Joshua
Lawrence Chamberlain, who was a general for the Union Army during the Civil
War. And if you remember your history of the battle of Gettysburg, there
was a group of dissidents from Maine who didn't like war. Who didn't want
to take command. They wanted to go home. And they absolutely wanted no
part of this war. And Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a colonel at the
time and his superiors came to him and said, "We need to have you
to do something about this group of dissidents from Maine. No one else
can handle them. But it's your responsibility to organize them and get
them moving in to a fighting force."
-
- So Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain went over to where these
mean dissidents were lounging around under a tree, he walked over and even
at the approach of a colonel they didn't stand. That's what their attitude
was. But Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain who later became general said
this, "Well, I don't want to preach to you. You know who we are and
what we're doing here but if you're going to fight along side us there's
a few things I want you to know. Freedom is not just a word. This is a
different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see many fights for
pay, or women or some other kind of loot. They fight for land or because
a king makes them fight or just because they like killing. But we're here
for something new. This is free ground. No man has to bow. No man is born
to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do not by who your father was.
Here you can be something. Here's a place to build a home. It isn't the
land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value. You
and me. And we're worth something more than just the dirt. I never saw
dirt I'd die for but I'm not asking you to come and join us and fight for
the dirt. What we're all fighting for in the end is each
other."
-
- That was true then, when that group from Maine were the
heroes. In the fight at Gettysburg. And it's true today. Cause we're not
just fighting for dirt. Yes, the love of the land courses in our veins.
Yes, the love of freedom courses in our veins. But we're here, finally,
to fight for each other. Let's keep up the fight! God bless you. And thank
you Klamath Falls for what you're doing for America.
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