The New Religion

A couple of thousand years ago, give or take, a Savior was born and died, bringing us eternal salvation. To a large chunk of the world that was a pretty significant event. And to mark it's significance we annually celebrate it with lots of drinking, spending money on crap we don't need, and eating too much. Sure some put a couple of dollars in the kettle and call that philanthropy but for the most part the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ has come to resemble Spring Break on South Beach!

But this is not about that. This is about a new religion that has evolved over the past several decades. And like Christianity you have your devoted followers, your deniers, and those hypocrites that invoke it when it suits their purpose. It is all the rage and very politically correct to wear its colors. Its devotees kneel at the alter and take the crusade to all nooks and crannies of the world.

What? You haven't heard of it? Sure you have. It is called Environmentalism. The goddess they worship is Mother Nature and the world is their temple. What started out as a fairly good idea has become perverted and distorted and has evolved into something resembling a fanatic religious movement. And it has finally made it to Lockhart, Texas, the place that time forgot! But like most things religious in Lockhart, Texas the environmentalists are superficial and only "down for the struggle" if they see personal benefit in it. It has to be something in the water!

Before I go any further and get burned in effigy let me define the object of my scorn. I am talking about people who have been going along for the past twenty years oblivious to environmental concerns right under their noses. Less than 10 miles away the world could be crumbling but they couldn't care less. As long as they are not screwing with me or mine, cool. All of a sudden their world is shattered! Someone wants to build a (fill in the blank ______) near me! Their first concern is how does this affect my property value. Then they look for ways to stop this from happening. Enter the Environmentalist! All of a sudden these folks take up the crusade to save us all from the evil polluters. Yeah, those people.

Like I said earlier the environmental movement in its foundation was a good idea. We have learned a lot about the little things we can do to make our world a nicer place to live and most of us, under threat of having your money taken from you, are compliant. When was the last time you poured chemicals or motor oil in the storm drain? When was the last time you threw trash on the road from your car? Do you recycle? All of these are courtesy of a long period of education/indoctrination by environmentalists, enforced by your friendly governmental regulatory agency, whose sole purpose is their continued existence through ever increasing regulations and sucking money from your pockets. It is alphabet soup these days. EPA and TCEQ immediately come to mind. So like good citizens only wishing to keep a portion of what we earn comply with the laws. It's life in River City.

Unfortunately that is just not good enough. These latter day Environmentalists enlist the Jerry Falwells of the movement to fight their battle. Because the internet geniuses, armed with a laptop and the Google search engine, are infinitely more qualified to determine environmental impact than scientists that actually went to school and have experience in such matters. And of course they will beat you down with every kind of "study" written by either some environmental whacko in their mom's basement or a religious zealot long on commitment but short on actual proof. All of a sudden the people we hire at the regulatory agencies are either incompetent, shills for the industry they are charged with overseeing, or both? Reality check time!

I am not real happy with organized religion right now. People are rejecting it because somewhere along the line the church lost its soul and turned into a social club. The Ten Commandments have become the Ten Suggestions and the Protestant denominations are so into appeasement to keep from offending someone that they will accept almost any behavior. I have a similar attitude toward the latter day Environmentalist. Their religion is a facade that is deserving of scorn, not respect. Global warming has been debunked as a hoax but yet it is touted like it is written in the Gospels.

We are supposed to be a representative republic in the good old USA and, for better or worse, are governed by laws enacted by said representatives. They established the regulatory agencies that oversee all things environmental and processes that should be followed. Private property rights, one of the things that separate our country from most of the rest of the world, have been severely curtailed by this process but at least there is an equitable pathway to allowing them to use their property as they see fit. A screaming rabble of junk scientists should not impact the process. We shall see.