Devil hides in details of compact
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
“All it takes is rhetoric and a public that does not think beyond the rhetoric they hear” (Thomas Sowell).
You can just call the reserved water rights compact a “right,” and you are home free with a major part of the public. Those who are more skeptical can be dismissed as people who are just obstructionists — or the more favorite term: racist. That puts you on the side of the angels against the forces of evil, and that is a proven winning strategy in politics. And the compact commission/tribe/feds are playing full-bore politics of fear, uncertainty and doubt. They get plenty of coverage well above the usually 350-word limits, and are fond of calling others liars and purveyors of misinformation.
So Alan Mikkelsen taunts with the Mecham Letter — another unethical threat to pounce by the federal government — and is touted as a “lawyer” (Missoulian) of Indian rights. Huh? Chairman Joe Durglo praises the virtues of so many years of struggle and sacrifice wondrously summoned up in 1,200 pages. Another huh? And my dear friend Susan Lake has expressed an unquestioning favorable “trust” in all things tribal and compact, akin to a bit of a swoon. Has anybody read this stuff? Huh?
But then who wants to get bogged down in specifics? Certainly not politicians or most of the media? And the Compact Commission? Well ... aren’t we all politicians to some degree, some, much more than less? But I dare you to read it. And then read all of Alan Mikkelsen’s sticky-noted court rulings. Hey, Alan, they are not all bad. They are kind of evened out if you don’t cherry-pick them. I have found them very informative; but I am still not up to snuff to pass the bar exam. And the constitutions of both the U.S. and the State of Montana are good reads, too, and not so long. But hey, who wants detail? That’s where the devil hides.
Christopher Chavasse
Ronan
