Miners, Fight Now or Have Blood on Your Hands Forever
By: Danny VanDerschelden
With Ron Wydens River Democracy Act slithering its way through the U.S. Senate the Oregon small scale mining industry is facing judgment day. If passed this bill would close down nearly all of Oregon to new mining claims. So far there has not been any serious push back to this bill. So far we have done nothing but bitch and moan and watch and wait for the mining Apocalypse.
Our current situation should not be a surprise to anyone. For decades us miners have been playing defense trying to slowdown the dissolution of our mining rights, if we do anything at all. The typical procedure goes like this; an Environmentalist Politician introduces a bill to take a big chunk of our mining rights away, we then put up a feeble defense against the bill, and then if we are lucky a watered down version of the bill passes. Now the issue with trying to stop our enemy using a defensive approach is that the ONLY possible outcome is that the enemy wins over time. If you play a football game and only try to stop the opposing team from scoring it is impossible to win. You MUST try to get yourself some touchdowns. Up to this point we have been fighting using a strategy that makes victory literately impossible. We must stop and we must stop now.
We are not just fighting against the River Democracy Act. We are fighting an ideology hell bent on ending mining. We all know what is at stake here. The title of this article may strike you as overly dramatic at first, but is it? Isn’t mining required for modern society? Isn’t modern society important? If we do not fight back we are dooming mining communities to poverty. If we do not fight back we are sending children to bed hungry. We are putting families in the position of not being able to afford medicine. I know people whose only reason for not blowing their brains out is that they have mining to look forward to. WAKE UP! This is not just a hobby. We are not just fighting for your right to drink a beer on the edge of the river while panning with some buddies.
We are battling for civilization and unfortunately us miners are the only ones who understand that right now. You may have picked up mining as just a hobby but now fate has put the burden of the world on your shoulders. Kinda sucks, I know. However it is also kinda awesome that such a small decision in your life has put you in such an important position.
I have been a part of this community for over 10 years now. We have never won a political victory. Now, here is the good news, that is only because we have never fought for a political victory. We have truth and righteousness on our side and when we turn the fight within us on we will win. We must fight the “River Democracy Act” but even more importantly we must actively push a pro mining rights agenda that will increase our mining rights, not just slow down their erosion. If you would like to join this fight I would like to suggest that you read about my “River Liberation Act” that I am trying to get introduced in to congress. You can learn about that by clicking HERE. If you like it please sign the petition on that same page. Do it now. Do not use time as an excuse, you had time to read this article. Right now. Go.