"It is
impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for
their presentation is provided or available." Thomas Mann, 1896
Letter from the
President
November 15th, 2002
John
Hathaway-Bates
President
& Executive Director
As our regular readers know I have long been preaching a Pacific States of North America, running down the coast from the Bering Straits at the tip of Alaska to Capo San Lucas at the end of the Baja peninsula and including Hawaii, Guam, etc. as the westernmost point of the USA. With the exception of British Columbia in Canada and the State of Baja (North & South) we already have a framework for this in the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (although we lost Utah and gained Montana in that division).
The way we see it is as follows, this side of the Rockies has become an economy unto itself, with a few problems we need to solve (like the Federal Government owns much of the land - sell it to private citizens, the income to be spent developing infrastructure like roads, low cost housing and the establishment of regional administration (we agree to the Fed's keeping a third for themselves), this would get rid of nuclear spent fuel dumps close to our homes and land controlled by environmentalists in the East and allow us to invest in the future of the children who live here. The problem is that special interest groups in Washington DC go pale at the idea of us having a pro-business, liberty guaranteed, region run by the people, for the people and of the people who actually live and work here. Do not get us wrong. Being a proactive part of the United States is always a given, (Patriotism is the one thing that stays the same both side of the Rockies), but a little more "western cooperation" recognizing the Pacific States as an unique socio-economic region unto itself, would undoubtedly make everyone's life easier and better out here, so far from Washington DC and New York, in our opinion. Our Governors however, do not seem all that keen on sitting down with each other either to help us, which is a real pity, but when you consider how many of our Governors would rather be President it is at the very least, understandable.
It is our opinion that they (Western States governments) should establish “cooperation committees” drawn from all the western states, so that we can create a more efficient and more fair, single socio-economic entity, not unlike the European Union, where our western States (American, Mexican and Canadian) can actively work together to promote our region as a region and fully exploit the marvelous advantages fate has given to us. The three strikes law for example is useless, unless crimes committed in Oregon can be counted in California or Utah, etc., and if all the Pacific Coast ports can be run by the same corporate entity and the same union, why can we not have the same duties and tariffs, state taxes, environmental laws, etc. for trade and production matters in the region also? Why can we not have a “trade transportation corridor” doing a loop through those states within our region? Roads (the 5 Freeway is a good start, but how much better would it be if we could build "trucking lanes" to allow more efficient and of course safer transportation), improved railway links, perhaps a new high speed anti-grav rail link, etc., helping distribution to build our industrial base and transport goods to market from the southern tip of Baja to the westernmost tip of Alaska. Fact is we have most of what I am calling for already, it just needs a different "regional" way of both thinking about it and administering the infrastructure.
Also, now that we are faced with a War on Terrorism, we could establish a Regional Police Center (Reno would be my geographical choice) where all of the policing authorities throughout the region could share database records, crime laboratories and expertise (a local Interpol if you will).
Then we could have region wide referendums to adopt a “Code of Best Practices”, choosing what is best (i.e.: the “loser pays” laws of Alaska) to become a standardized Code of State Law to apply throughout the region.
As has often been said: "Logic is the optimist's only fall back defense against politics".
Hope to see you at lunch soon
President & Executive Director
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Previous Letters from the President
April
2001
May 2001
June 2001
July
2001
August 2001
September 2001
October 2001
November
2001
January
2002
February 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September
2002
October 2002
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