A New American Civil War - West Vs. East?

A New American Civil War - West Vs. East?
By Sheriff Mike Cook

I'm starting to get worried. It seems to me that everything I read in the news anymore is slanted to the liberal side of things. They are really starting to work hard to turn the tide in the 2004 election. I believe the liberals know that if they don't gain ground on this election the movements they have championed will be set back for a long time. For conservative people like me this is good, however I believe we are about to see all stops pulled out and some of the dirtiest campaigning you have ever witnessed coming down the pike.
The liberal main stream media will be putting out about as much false and misleading information as they can. You see the truth doesn't matter to them if they can get the emotional response they want. An example would be the attack on so called assault weapons by CNN. There was nothing in that report that was even remotely close to the truth. The whole thing was set up to make the people on the line panic for no good reason at all. How many times will they shoot movies or documentaries about the school shooting at Columbine. We have lived through that crime and most everyone understands that two young males took it upon themselves to shoot up their school. That's right, they did it, and no weapon they used had any responsibility for doing it. The fact was they broke the law to get the weapons and no laws would have prevented them from this act. So demonizing the gun and saying that it could be controlled and would have stopped this attack is like saying that we as humans don't need food to live because some are obese.

So stand by to read through the news and media attacks that are about to fall around us. None of it will help you make good and informed decisions this coming election.

Now, I'm just as worried when I read the more conservative news papers and web sites. I think if things go bad in 2004 we will see another civil war in America. This time it may be West Vs East. The reason is the damage that can be done to the West because of so much government controlled land. The enviros have forced the government to make many poor choices in over seeing this land. The people who live in the West have been damaged to the point that it is even affecting private property. That was one reason we started this nation of ours was for private property rights. Those rights and the fight for private property have been going on from the very beginning. This is especially true in the West.

In my many years in law enforcement I have witnessed untold fights over property lines and other property issues. It spans the gamut from homicide to fist fights. People take this as serious as they do anything that affects them. I have also helped friends who were harassed by a bad neighbor called the government. All because of the government's attempt to take property that cannot legally or constitutionally be under their control. The government is considered the worst neighbor you can have in the West, with good cause. I do know that with all the land use laws that have been put in place over the last few years, we the people are no longer in control of our property. These laws also allow others to harass property owners and they can do it legally through the government and courts. This can only lead to frustration, which leads to violence.

Now we have two issues that affect many people all at once. One is the use of "government land" for grazing and other things like logging and recreational uses. Then the topper to it all is the battle over something that is very precious to all humanity, water. This may be the straw that broke the camels back in this pending war between the states. The government wants to control it, and the enviro types want to force the government not let anyone use it. They are using every un-Constitutional law they have shoved down our throat to stop this use. When that fails they go to the court system until they find a judge who agrees with them.

Now you see why I'm worried. I believe we are headed for one big blood bath in this nation. One that may divide this nation and cause harm that will never be repaired just like the last civil war. I do know that our enemies are sitting back licking their chops, just waiting for this to happen. Our only chance is to elect people to office who will return our rights and freedoms to us and down size government. If this doesn't happen and we go the other way it will be war like we have never seen before. I pray to God that doesn't happen.

God Bless America.
God Bless our troops, still in harms way.

Michael E. Cook, Coos County Sheriff, Retired.