The Mouse That Defeated the Congressman

The great state of California is home to a mouse that defeated a United States Congressman. Environmental groups used an endangered mouse as a symbol of why Representative Richard W. Pombo should be voted out of office.

But first a bit of background information.

The 'throw the bums out' mentality that has infected the American electorate of late has resulted in dire consequences for the country. When Americans vote purely out of their ire or discontent rather than FOR something, we rarely make sound decisions. Such is the case with our predicament now.

A prime example of the problem is a race in California that hinged on a single issue--the refusal of the Republican incumbent to place a small creature on the endangered species list.

Don't laugh too quickly. These people are for real and they got a Congressman defeated in California.

Environmental groups in California were livid over the refusal of Congressman Pombo to place on the endangered species list a small, rare rodent called 'the Preble's meadow jumping mouse.' Pombo had contended that the mouse was an example of the gross abuses of the federal Endangered Species Act, which has increasingly been used to prevent landowners from exercising their right to control their own property.

The abuses of the Act are widespread and alarming. For example, in a city in Texas landowners were prevented from the use of their property because of a blind bug that had been discovered on the premises--a bug that was on the endangered species list.

To environmentalist extremists and their supporters in government, private property is not really private. All they have to do to prevent a landowner from using his/her property, selling it to developers, or building on it, is to find a supposed 'rare animal' on the premises and then scream to high heaven that this private property is a 'natural habitat' for the species.

This is usually all it takes to saddle private citizens with a ton of federal laws that govern every single move that is undertaken on their property.

Congressman Pombo was at the forefront of the fight to reign in the leftist environmentalist looney tunes by getting some species dropped from the list and refusing to add more. This made him a target among leftists who love to flex their political muscle in California, such as they did when proposals came forth to build more oil refineries in the state to supply their rampant addiction. They successfully prevent such prudent measures to address the state's growing energy demand. They then blamed Republicans for the state's energy crisis a few years ago, which had nothing to do with Republicans at all but was the direct consequence of the power environmentalists wield in California.

Needless to say if these looney tunes extremists can cripple a state the size of California, then Congressman Pombo was no match for their power, money, and influence. Pombo lost to Democrat Jerry McNerney.

This is not merely about a rare rodent. It is about the property rights of citizens that are even more endangered than most of the species on the endangered list. The situation that led to Pombo's defeat is just the tip of the iceberg in the assault on property rights.

After all, it was none other than Michael Moore, the darling of the Left and Moveon.org, who said in 2002, 'There is no such thing as private property.'

Funny how the Democrats kept Moore carefully hidden during this year's campaigns.