Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68594
mule deer and sheep. Never mind that hunters sustain millions of pronghorns, elk, coyotes, foxes, bighorns, moose, painted buntings, yellow warblers and just about every other native wild species in North America. No, ignore all that fluff and stuff because no hunter is qualified to lead a conservation agency created by hunters. T he impetus behind the Lt. Governor's "political correctness" attack came after Richards, on his own time, journeyed to Idaho to indulge in a legal, ethical, fair chase hunt for a free-ranging Idaho mountain lion. He killed a large male lion and ate some of its flesh while still in Idaho. Predictably, California animal rightists went ballistic and began calling for his ouster, if not his head. Newsom and 40 like-minded legislators jumped on the bash-hunter bandwagon to curry political favor. One expects such attacks from PETA, HSUS and similar radical anti-hunting factions. What's deeply disturbing here are that elected officials in California think they have the power to dictate what legal activities Californians may or may not indulge outside of California's boundaries. Echoes of George Orwell. Shades of fascism. Demagoguery. Let us suppose that Richards had gone to North Dakota and smoked a cigarette in a small-town restaurant. Would not the California legislature then need to ask for his resignation because smoking is not legal in California restaurants? The creeping Big Brother sentiment inherent in this situation is just the latest in a long line of insidious infringements on personal liberty that should frighten every hunter, fisherman, farmer, dog owner, steak eater and freedom-loving citizen. It more than hints at how fragile our rights have become in the face of political correctness and the morals police. It dramatizes how quickly and brazenly religious fanatics – through intimidation, harassment and threats – are willing to deny any and all "non- believers" their rights. ". . . he does not represent Californians' beliefs." (Those beliefs, by the way, were held by 52.4 percent of Californians who voted to pass citizens' initiative 117 in 1990 banning the hunting of mountain lions in that state, regardless of biology, population levels, depredation on other species, etc. Tyranny of the masses. The dark side of democracy.) So, the State will now dictate what we are to believe. Mountain lions are not to be killed because a tiny majority believes that. What happens when they feel bears should not be killed, either? Geese? Deer. Mice. Fish. Cockroaches. Didn't a certain number of pilgrims once sail away from Europe because they did not subscribe to government's official beliefs? Didn't a few rabble-rousers named Washington, Franklin, Adams and Jefferson go to war because they did not want to represent SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 58