“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress … but then I repeat myself.”
- Mark Twain
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In a couple of weeks, the Democrats will control the U.S. Congress. You can analyze the crushing defeat they handed the Republican majority in the November election 93 different ways, but the fact is Americans are pretty smart and they like to see the party pendulum swing every decade or so. It seems like the basic political philosophy of this country is, “The old boneheads have had their chance, let’s give some new boneheads a shot.”
Well, the new boneheads are folks who don’t like us very much. They don’t see any value in pesticides and fertilizers, and they don’t like golf (at least not publicly).
Nancy Pelosi of California, the new Speaker of the House despises pesticide usage. She’s an angry soccer mom on steroids. Beware!
Barbara Boxer of California will be the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. See above.
The new Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, was a co-chairman of a 1991 hearing that basically tried to crucify anyone using pesticides for lawn care or golf purposes. I was there … it wasn’t fun.
The new Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, Henry Waxman of California, is an avowed enemy of pesticides. He’ll be a key player on the Environment Committee as well.
Do you see a pattern here? The idiots from Hollywood have assumed control of our future. Are you comfortable with that?
For the past decade, those of us in the business of using tested, government-registered pesticides have had to fight small, hand-to-hand battles at the local level every day. We’ve been scrambling to keep up with every county commission, city council, zoning commission and urban planning group in 50 different states. But, we didn’t have to worry that much about what was going on at the national level inside the Beltway.
All that changed last month. Get ready … the real fight to maintain the tools golf needs to survive is about to begin under the Capitol Dome. The question is: Will the golf industry be soldiers or bystanders in that fight?
What do you think? Let me know by clicking through to the GCN forum.
Pat Jones is president of Flagstick LLC.