Jack Burns Lives!

Weary and Out

I’ve grown weary of debate, and I’m ready for a little peace and quiet.

I’m tired of the fighting, finger pointing, gnashing of teeth, name calling and the general ugliness in political, environmental and social justice circles. I’ve grown weary of infighting in the environmental community, especially people that point their judgmental fingers at others while attempting to apply some sort of bizarre litmus test to other greens. That pisses me off more than the amazing level of insouciance in the general population.

I’m sick of the news.

I’m fed up with so-called progressives and liberals that keep looking to the same old places for solutions: government and centralization. More than ever, I’m convinced that standing governments, along with growth capitalism, are the biggest threat we face. Government and business go hand-in-hand and are so completely interdigitated in this country you can barely tell the difference between the two. Governments are the protectorate of global capitalist expansion, and working together as a seemingly unstoppable force, they are, without doubt, the single greatest threat to life on earth.

“Where would species be without government protection? What about our parks and wilderness areas? What would have happened to them without government protection?”

And to that I say this….

Governmental protection of species and wilderness was made necessary because of rapacious capitalist expansion and greed. And government “protection” (exploitation) really isn’t about protecting natural resources. It’s about economic growth, namely, tourism. The establishment in 1872 of Yellowstone, the nation’s first national park, was first proposed by an agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He obviously understood that more tourists meant more tickets sold.

Go to any national park, and you’ll see what I mean. It’s all about making it easier for tourists to motor around in their RV’s and SUV’s. Fancy new visitor centers. Towns full of hotels and shopping and development that would not exist if it wasn’t for the national park that’s next door. Moab is a great example.

Carefully examine the practice of grazing on public lands. It’s all about money.

But hell, this is nothing new. Abbey wrote about this in the late ’60′s.

And is there any wilderness remaining? In New Mexico, the ubiquitous presence of non-native flora and fauna is so prevalent there’s no question whatsoever that no wilderness remains. Wilderness, at least according to the guvment, is defined as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man.”

I sure can’t say that about the Smokies or Arches.

A better solution to the problem is bioregional societal organization and a steady state economic system bound by biological and geophysical constraints. Living in balance with earth and not viewing nature’s bounty as something that exists primarily to fulfill human needs and economic lust.

A return to the commons and to local, bioregional land management by an informed, active populace. Read Gary Snyder’s The Practice of The Wild for more background on this subject, including successful examples.

There’s a lot of talk about how the Democrats are going to “take back” the White House. Talk of great change. Peace even. Withdrawal from Iraq.

It’s amazing people believe this shit. Read very carefully what Obama and Hilliary say about Iraq, al Qaeda and market expansion. It’s the same old story, people. GOP Lite.

“I will not hesitate to use force, unilaterally if necessary, to
protect the American people or our vital interests whenever we are
attacked or imminently threatened. We must also consider using
military force in circumstances beyond self-defense….” Barack Obama

And he’s supposed to be the most liberal of the candidates, after Kucinich.

Something else I recently griped about was all of this talk about a return of the draft. Again, so-called progressives supporting an expansion of government, ostensibly to curb Republican blood lust. The theory being they won’t be so keen on going to war every three months if their little Johnny might have to go face the boogeyman.

That might work with a few of them, but what you’re really doing is further strengthening centralized government and giving it the power of law to force more of our children to die for the cause of economic expansion. It’s frankly unbelievable to me that anyone that considers themself a progressive or an anarchist would consider such a thing.

Well, like I said before, no one in my house is going anywhere. Jail is a better option.

Everyone has an agenda, including me. But now mine has changed. My agenda is to live a quiet, contemplative life as a Taoist, hopefully in a cabin deep in the woods or as far away from syphilization as possible. Way, far away, from this fake plastic world.

So, I’m taking my books, art, music, rifle, fly rod and wine and going home. Let everyone else sort it out. I know how to live, know how I want to live and even exactly where I want to live. Last week, I put the wheels in motion to move. A new bioregion. One where I can easily escape to the mountains for days if need be. One where I can continue my present vocation, yet escape the noise and ugliness of the city.

Turning my back? Maybe. That’s how I feel today. Tomorrow I’ll probably feel like jumping upon a fleet steed, sword in hand, and marching on Washington. I waver between hopelessness and unbridled anger. A “cracked polystyrene man who just crumbles and burns.” Some days off the map entirely.

Long way to go toward that Taoist state of being….

“That’s not green at all. What if everyone wanted to do that! There’s not enough land for all of us to live some idyllic, Thoreau like life in the woods.”

And to that I say this….

Thoreau only lived about two miles outside of town. My own version of Bron-Yr-Aur will much further from the man swarm.

I plan to find some land and maintain it “as is” in perpetuity. I plan to restore native flora and make a haven for native fauna. Developers be damned. My children will need to agree to those terms or upon my death it will go to some worthwhile nature organization.

Allison and I leave in a couple of weeks to begin our search. I plan on being out of the Delta by fall ’08, one year from now. Alex will graduate, and my wife and I will be empty nesters. We’ll need much less housing space and far more open space.

The quiet, contemplative life of a mountain hermit. This all depends on finding affordable land. Developers have been swarming in the southwest since the arrival of Anglos, and thanks to competition and growth, an affordable tract of land is hard to come by. Recent abominations like the sale of the New Mexico Atrisco Land Grant to SunCal, a California developer, make it even more difficult. (you’ve got to read about it to believe it) It seems no place on the continent will escape the creeping, metastasizing cancer Abbey frequently railed against.

Land speculation and over development are the scourge of the earth. A filthy business making enormous profits at the expense of all life. The profiteers have mortgaged Mother Earth to the hilt and foreclosed on the future of our children.

In today’s economic system, there are strong economic incentives to make fast use of natural resources, without regard for the long term effects. To many, self-restraint equals self punishment. What’s needed is more verguenza, the self-effacing probity that restrains a person from advancing at the expense of others.

Egalitarianism. Altrusim. Love. Peace. Forgiveness. Compassion.

I’ve pretty much given up on finding an abundance of those qualities in humans. In fact, I believe it’s so bad that I’m circling the wagons and restricting access to only family and few close friends. I’ll probably just write about chickens, goats and yard birds. Flowers, plants, trees, rivers and mountains.

Things that won’t disappoint me. Adios.