Please don’t be hoodwinked by the oil companies and their adherents. Have the strength of will to look past their platitudes and false promises.
James Madison wrote, “The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protections, as a social right.” Somehow we have become seduced by the term “private property rights.” We look at it as an unalienable right with no regard for its connection to the “common good.”
It is true that,legally, you have the right to own property and enjoy the economic benefits of such ownership. However, you also have a moral obligation to protect that property from disadvantageous use.
The oil companies have time after time shown that they don’t have such moral grounding and once they have their hooks on a property they will do everything they can to maximize its economic benefit for them and only them. After all, what could possibly go wrong if they are allowed to begin fracking in San Benito County? Let’s get one thing clear: the oil industry does not give a care about the health, safety, future, or security of you, me, or anyone else. Lining their own pockets with cash is more important to them than your continued health or your children’s clean drinking water. Why else would they spend millions to convince us otherwise?
Remember that all those commercials, mailings and media blitzes that tell you to vote against Measure J and for fracking are being paid for by the oil industry. So if you truly care about your property rights don’t be so quick to deliver them to the oil companies to exploit, leaving you with polluted drinking water, fouled air and soil, property that is less valuable. What, you may ask, if I’m wrong about those outcomes? The more important question is what if I’m right? Those “environmentalist radicals” that support Measure J care about your property rights, the health and safety of your children, the economic future of our beautiful county, the quality and quantity of our groundwater.
Can the oil companies “honestly” say that? Their history clearly and emphatically says we don’t care about you! So don’t be a pawn in their Machiavellian machinations. Don’t believe me…don’t believe the misdirecting “facts” pushed by the oil companies and their adherents…think for yourself, do the research, protect your property, protect your family, protect your future.
Very rarely in our lives do we have the opportunity to control our destiny and be the harbingers of a positive future. Woodrow Wilson stated, “Property as compared with humanity, as compared with the red blood in the American people, must take second place, not first place.” When you go to the ballot box in November, vote your heart. Your well-being and the well-being of your grandchildren depend on it. You and you alone have the wisdom and the power to do the right thing…Vote for your unalienable right to Be Well! Vote YES on J.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
It was beautiful; it was green and clean. The smell of fresh air; the sound of the river flowing. I love everything happening there. I pinched myself to see if it was real. That was when I realized I was dreaming. Couldn’t it be real! Now, all wasted. The color is just awful. The smell of pollution is killing me The sound of traffic is giving me a headache. I wanted my perfect dream to come through. But again, I was dreaming! – Surega Rajan