Libertarian Lunatics

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This morning the local public radio channel, KNPR, interviewed the director of the Las Vegas Valley Water District, Pat Mulroy. For those unaware, Nevada has been on water restrictions for years because of drought and the lowered flow of the Colorado River, whose waters supply most of Las Vegas's needs. Anyway, there's talk on the show of accessing water in places that have too much (think the Mississippi/Missouri confluence) and the Yukon River way up in Alaska. Mulroy is taking these ideas seriously when a libertarian lunatic calls in to say she's a lia

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r and a creator of the problem. The caller could barely sputter out his argument, he was so angry, but he managed to state baldly that there is no drought here. So much for reality!

This caller wanted to blame Mulroy for collusion with the developers ("It all started with the strawberries!!") to attract too many people to southern Nevada. She didn't take the bait, nor should she. As she said, she's trying to make sure those of us who are here have water. But there is this element in the west who, once they're safely up and over the wall, want to pull up the ladders so no one else can join them.

There have always been people like this. On a broad scale, they are the nativists who want to keep "America for Americans." Forgetting that all families were immigrants to this land at one time, they want to lock the door to people who want to come in now. It's a childish notion, belying a puerile world view. I would bet that most of those nay-sayers haven't travelled much, and don't know many people of other cultures. The only hope we have is the younger generation, who will one day supplant the deadwood we've got ranting on the airways now.