Diane Alden
Recent Work
Smoke, Mirrors and Economic Reality
What industries beyond the service sector will offer Nevada the diversification it needs to ensure economic prosperity? Improving education, reforming tax structures and articulating clear economic goals have been low priorities for state and local governments. Too often smoke and mirrors are substituted for addressing the very stumbling blocks and economic challenges impeding such desirable goals. Do Nevadans have the political will to drive a stake through the heart of counterproductive policies which discourage economic diversification?
Losing Ground in Nevada
It is the struggle over federal land policy which will decide the economic future of rural Nevada and the entire intermountain West. The powerful green movement has used government and foundation money, the media and the concerns of well-meaning people to influence policies which do not reflect sound science or the opinion of most Nevadans. But the media and politicians don’t seem interested in getting at the truth. Revealing new studies by Dr. Hudson Glimp and Dr. Tony Lesperance will probably be ignored in favor of Robert Redford or Jane Fonda opining about "saving the land." The question is for what reasons and for whom is the land being saved—and at what price.
Web of Deception: Environmental Miseducation
The schoolchildren of Nevada and the United States are familiar with a concept known as the "web of life." Marketing this philosophy is a web of another sort. The Sierra Club, Audobon Society, National Wildlife Federation and Nature Conservancy—in conjunction with the EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, BLM, National Park Service, Eastern foundations and the education establishment—provide questionable information to the nation’s school systems and call it "environmental education."
Arms and 'The Man'
No longer does the federal government merely arm the U.S. Marshall’s service, the Secret Service, the FBI, the Border Patrol, DEA, BATF and the military. Today the IRS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, EPA, the Forest Service and even the Small Business Administration are carrying firearms. In the deadly incidents of over-reaction at Ruby Ridge and Waco, hardly a flak-jacketed bureaucrat paid any meaningful price. Expanding the power of federal agencies to use force against U.S. citizens means the possibility of occurrences like Ruby Ridge and Waco are increasing.
Reforming the 4,000 Pound Gorilla
Americans spend approximately $710 billion to finance federal regulatory agencies and to comply with regulations. Passing regulations is an attractive method that makes legislators appear to be doing the public’s business. Policy-makers portray concern for various environmental, economic or social problems by handing off the authority to regulatory agencies, thus receiving two for the price of one. They give the appearance of addressing a problem without seeming to raise taxes. Such slight of hand policy-making has proven neither beneficial nor cost effective for government, businesses or citizens. Regulation was meant to reduce uncertainty, illegal activities and to help consumers and citizens make informed decisions. The result was supposed to save money and resources. In reality, the regulatory behemoth has proven to be expensive and comes nowhere near accomplishing the goals for which it was intended. Instead the regulatory beast serves to make life more difficult and the costs of its upkeep threaten the economic and social stability of the United States.
