“Bad Medicine” makes some valid points, but it turns me cold when it starts out with name calling, specifically “ultra-right” and later in the article “ultra-conservative.” Simply disagreeing with the author’s point of view seems to make people extreme, in the author’s opinion. If you want to draw people towards your point of view, then don’t call them inflammatory names. At best, it is poor journalism.
In “Defuse the West,” it is a case of the tragedy of the commons. Federal ownership of the West has resulted in a badly managed and poorly funded Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, with frustrated and demoralized employees. The heavy-handed managing of the West has some people terribly frustrated because their way of life is changing and they see no way to come to terms with it. It also brings out the worst of the mentally unstable, drunk, drug-using public, who see a chance to act out their general frustration with life. Put guns in their hands, and it gets serious quickly.
As for returning the land to the states, it isn’t going to happen. The federal government could allow the states to manage the land locally, if the feds funded that management, but I don’t see that happening, either. The federal government never wants to give up power over people. I’m looking forward to less name-calling and what is often a great magazine.
Richard Crow
Woodland Park, Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Less name-calling.
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