One of the major tenants of conservatism is the belief of private landowner rights. It was the adherence to this belief that caused this columnist to be doubtful of the East-West highway project. The Maine Conservative Voice had concerns about the probability of imminent domain and the violation of private landowner rights. That is why I attended the forum at the Foxcroft Academy. I made my way up to the top of the bleachers so that I could brace my tired back from a long day of construction work. No sooner had I sat down that many orange-garbed people began to surround where I had deposited my tired frame. It was readily apparent that they had already made up their minds about the project and expressed their disproval of the highway.
The presentation began and I listened. But my neighbors did not. At any moment when they did not approve of Peter Vigue’s statements, they would flash signs calling him a liar and at points heckling him. Soon Mr. Vigue addressed the issue of imminent domain and it verified some of my research that private companies cannot invoke imminent domain. On the other hand, the heckling orange clad protestors, that I found myself next to, revealed evidence of a different kind.
Every time Mr. Vigue would ask if the people from Piscataquis wanted a better prosperity, the orange throng about me would mutter, “No, we want a green life.” When asked if they wanted to see more businesses leave Piscataquis, they would answer, “Yes, to save the earth.” I began to see that all the protest against the violation of landowner rights was just one more ruse by the Environmental Left to keep any hope of prosperity coming to this great area from blossoming, thus, driving the hated human footprint from rural Maine, to turn this into the Wildlands they dream about. After all, these are the same groups who advocated for LURC, wildlife easements and the like. And they do have a plan for Piscataquis.
For some strange reason I received an email from a Mr. Gayton detailing his plan for Piscataquis County called the Piscataquis Village. He plans to build small European style villages with narrow streets and create no-car zones. This “micropolis” would set on 125 acres and would have “private building covenants”. Gayton also proposes a 325-acre “green band” around this village, which also would be a car-free zone. He needs to raise 2 million dollars to achieve the start of his plan for Piscataquis. He has many who have started to donate in the hundreds of thousands. There is more on this at these websites:
https://www.facebook.com/villageproject
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/cities/an-urban-experiment-in-rural-maine/1969
http://carfree.com/cft/i066.html
Some advocate these car free villages will agree to share one vehicle in case one is needed. So while the left calls for Piscataquis to embrace its vision of our future, which is something akin to beg, borrow and steal, we the people of Maine need to look closely at the true motives behind those who exploit our love for this land. They wish to blind us into severing our lifeline to future prosperity by cutting off the artery of business, transportation, as a sacrifice to their green agenda.
Recently while driving through Dover-Foxcroft, I noticed a bright hand made sign in storefront window. On the sign was boldly written “Say No To The East-West”. Right next to this sign was another sign in the window. It read “Going Out Of Business Sale”. Need I say more?
And please folks, get out there on the 12th and vote for Bruce Poliquin and Blaine Richardson, so we can send true social and fiscal conservatives to Washington, D.C. !!!
The Maine Conservative Voice 