By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

We are becoming a nation of rule by mantra.

If you say it loudly enough, keep saying it long enough and — even better — get crisis-hungry radio and TV hacks to say it for you, it's accepted as truth without regard for such stumbling blocks as facts and proof.

Sadly, the result of this dumbing down of our no-longer-skeptical population often is the removal or weakening of our individual freedoms. You know, the ones that hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens have given their lives for.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago the stampede of unsupported, automatically accepted prattle concerning guns. “Children are being killed by guns. If you oppose the removal or infringement upon the right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms, then you are in favor of more children being killed by guns.”

That argument just leaves out one small fact: in places where people have more individual freedom to own guns, there is less gun violence, not more.

Now those of us who dare to stand up to the juggernaut federal Environmental Protection Agency, as it builds for itself a power base independent of any control by our elected representatives, apparently are in favor of letting old people die of respiratory diseases and children suffer from asthma.

The argument goes like this:

EPA — “We are EPA. Resistance is futile. The number of asthma cases in your region is increasing, and we believe it is because you drive SUVs to the grocery store. Therefore we will set up layer after layer of appointed agencies that will essentially take over your local governments. If you want to paint a yellow stripe on one of your streets, you must first ask the ARC, which in turn must ask the GRTA, which in turn must ask us, the EPA. If you want to control growth in your county, and designate certain areas as off limits to high-density development, you must first ask the ARC, etc.”

John Q. Citizen — “Hold on, there. Is there any scientific evidence that children are getting asthma because we turned down an apartment complex on Highway 85?”

EPA — “We are EPA. Resistance is futile. You hate children and old people and want to destroy, rape and pillage Mother Earth. Therefore we will withhold all federal funding from you.”

JQC — “Wait a minute. Didn't those federal funds come out of my own pocket to begin with? How can you withhold my own money from me?”

EPA — “That is money that you were lucky enough to receive at the expense of the poor and sick, but it has been confiscated for the good of society. Resistance is futile.”

JQC — “Let's get back to science. What is the evidence that air quality is bad here, and what is the evidence that it will get better if we give control of our local governments to people we didn't elect?”

EPA — “We have monitored the air, and it has particulates.”

JQC — “How many particulates?”

EPA — “We're not saying.”

JQC — “Well, how many particulates does it take to cause asthma?”

EPA — “We're not saying.”

JQC: “How did you arrive at the scientific conclusions you are using to take over our governments?”

EPA — “We're not saying.”

JQC — “And wouldn't it be better if you submitted your data to the scientific community so that your conclusions could be debated? In fact, hasn't the Atlanta area always had more than its share of respiratory problems, even before we had any industry and before there were cars?”

EPA — “Silence, baby killer! We are EPA. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

A bit fanciful, I admit, but not one bit inaccurate. I'm convinced nothing will satisfy EPA short of complete, iron-fisted control over our elected representatives and our economy, thus our very lives.

Currently, there are only two organizations with the power to reign in this out-of-control federal agency: the Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Congress apparently doesn't have the political will to stand up to the barrage of hate speak from the power mongers at EPA and their accomplices in the media. The Supreme Court currently is deciding whether EPA should be forced to submit its data to independent scientists in cases similar to Atlanta's.

If the court caves and Congress doesn't find its courage, freedom is done for in this country.

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