Commentary in Reaction to the Senate's DC
Appropriations shenanigans given by George LaRoche:
Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota has inserted a provision into the D.C.spending bill
which mandates installation of cellular phone towers in Rock Creek Park. He defends
his authoritarian elimination of local debate and review by saying that federal property
like Rock Creek Park is not subject to local planning and decision-making.
But there's the flaw in his argument, because the citizens of the District of Columbia
have a solid, ownership interest in Rock Creek Park. When the Park was first
developed a century ago, a local tax upon the citizens of the District of Columbia paid
half the price of purchasing and developing the land for the Park and the costs of
maintaining the Park were to be "shared" by the citizens of the District.
Thus, the citizens of the District have every reason to demand and expect to have a
decisive voice in decisions what to do in and with Rock Creek Park. But as much as it
hurts for the citizens' equitable interest to be ignored, Rock Creek National Park is not
the only National Park built at the expense of people undemocratically excluded from
participation in their government. At the same time, Congress also saddled the citizens of
the District with half the costs of maintaining and operating the then brand-new National
Zoological Park. Thus, the citizens of the District were forced to pay half the
costs of operating a division of a federal agency. Maybe this isn't such a bad idea;
hey, Senator Daschle, let's tax the citizens of California to pay half the costs of the
Department of Defense.
Elsewhere, by the time Rock Creek Park was created in the District of Columbia, the
federal government had broken a major treaty it had with the Lakota Sioux Indians,
allowing hordes of white prospectors and carpetbaggers to mine the Black Hills--in what's
now South Dakota. The Black Hills, sacred to the Lakota people from time immemorial,
are now largely embraced in the Black Hills National Forest, which was created and is
maintained as a National Forest, of course, out of the national treasury.
One of the mountains in the Black Hills is Mount Rushmore. Chiseled into the side of
Mount Rushmore, are the faces of four white men. All the costs of creating the Black
Hills National Forrest and over four fifths of the costs of carving the
"sculpture" into Mount Rushmore were paid out of the federal treasury (the
remainder of the costs of Mount Rushmore were paid with voluntary
contributions). Of course, the greatest price was paid by the Lakota people, who at
the time were almost universally excluded from participating in the same federal
government which had taken their land.
Senator Daschle, you have the same power over Mount Rushmore and over the Black Hills as
you have over Rock Creek National Park--and over the District of Columbia, for that
matter. Would you dare to do there what you do here? Would you dare to so disrespect
the people of South Dakota--especially the Lakota people, and even disrespect all the
people of the United States, by erecting a cellular phone tower on Abraham Lincoln's
forehead at Mount Rushmore?
You've got uniform power, Senator; you cannot justify wielding it differently here, than
you would in the State which elected you.