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RE: [pct-l] PCT and politics



It takes money to maintain a trail -- any trail. Why shouldn't this money
come from the people who USE the trail? I agree that everyone has the right
to use federal land but the maintenance of that land needs to be paid for by
somebody. Who is that? The couch potato or you and I?

I will accept your $780 fee for argument's sake. Why isn't that fair? Why do
MY taxes have to pay for you walking the trail. Why do you get a four month
vagabond experience on my nickle? [The "you" here is not personal, rather a
thruhiker in general]

I agree that "use fees" wind up being a "kickback to the national treasury",
essentially a TAX and I object to that. However, a "use" fee that is
earmarked for the land and trail itself seems very fair.

The classic "populist" approach is to 'take from the rich to give to the
poor', the logic being the rich are fortunate and the poor unfortunate.
However, a thruhiker makes a CHOICE to not work, drop out of society and
walk the trail. The thruhiker is not 'unfortunate'. The thruhiker has no
ethical right to be supported by someone else. 

"Treehugging" is something else In the simplest sense it is not destroying
our environment in persuit of profits. In the most extreme sense it is
seeing nature as superior to man; nature being almost Godlike in stature.
One can be a "treehugger" but not a "populist" [Gore is both, Bush is
neither]. I, for one, am a treehugger because I believe that the remaining
Parks and Forest need to be protected for the enjoyment of future
generations. Thus, short term profits, be they be oil, wood or cattle, need
to take a back seat to preserving these treasures. However, I am not [as you
guessed] a populist. I believe that the best way to preserve these national
treasures is to charge for their maintenance. 

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To:            "JoAnn M. Michael" <jomike@snowcrest.net>, PCT List <pct-l-digest@majordomo.hack.net>