To the Editor:

It’s time to think long and hard about your future or the potential lack of one.

Our country is on the brink of an economic breakdown. When this happens, your job or source of income will be lost or seriously diminished. This didn’t just happen. It is the result of 40 years of short-sighted, wrong-headed thinking.

The world has been bombarded by the environmental movement. It is a noble thing to be concerned for the environment around us, but if a little is good, never-ending move is not better.

The slogan “Save the Earth” has swept the Earth, but few know or think of the other half of the equation: No life can exist unless we use the earth and harvest its produce and resources.

Thus, the industries that harvest our food, timber and minerals are the foundation of our economy. You must know that no business, industry or job can continue without these resources.

Also know that all new wealth comes from the ground. There is no other source.

Every time we enact a new regulation that restricts access and use of the land and set aside another area to just look at or protect some bird, bug, fish or animal, we stop some productive use and take another bite out of our economy.

We have over-extended our regulations and land withdrawals to the point our country can no longer support itself. Those economic restrictions are bringing on our economic troubles and perhaps the end of America as we know it.

Our area is in the unique position to blunt some of these troubles if we act and think right. The mineral resources of our area are sufficient to provide jobs that will allow many miners to support their families and many local merchants.

If we are to survive this crisis, we must change the actions and thinking of our government to allow the workers of our country to produce the necessities of life. So use your vote carefully.

Kenneth Anderson

Baker City