“The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right.”
— G. K. Chesterton, 1922
As the budget battles continue between radical Republicans and increasingly limp Democrats, Gene Lyons’ column in Saturday’s Joplin Globe offered a reason for the good guys to stiffen up: socialized fishing.
The Globe titled his piece,
Uncle Sam’s not broke, and we need him
Now, that header had to jar regular conservative readers of our paper, especially when Lyons used a local example of the small ways government makes life better, even for heavily Republican areas like southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas:
In Arkansas, where I live, trout fishing is both a major pastime and a source of tourist income. Although rainbow trout are a cold-water species not native to the state, world-record fish are taken frequently. Just writing about it makes me want to load my gear and head for Calico Rock.
Anyway, whether you know it or not, these are government trout. Your tax dollars created and maintain this matchless resource.
Lyons went on to describe how that happened, which had to do with dams built in the White River basin by the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and to generate electricity for both Arkansas and Missouri customers.
The “string of picturesque lakes” that resulted also “became a magnet for real-estate developments and resort communities, transforming one of the nation’s historically poorest regions.” He continued:
No government dams, no Branson, Mo., is one way of thinking about it.
Forget for a moment that the existence of Branson may be the one unassailable argument in favor of killing government meddling. Lyons’ point is that the federal Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the fish hatcheries “that keep it all going.” And Obama wants to cut that agency’s budget:
Trout can’t breed in dam tailwaters and must be constantly restocked. Should hatcheries close, the fish would soon vanish. So would the economic benefit to dozens of communities along the White and Little Red Rivers.
He points out that resort operators claim “they pay more in taxes than 
the cost of operating the hatcheries,” and Lyons wonders out loud about the motives of the Administration:
So did some Obama political appointee decide: “To hell with Arkansas. They didn’t vote for us anyway. Let them ask the tea party to pay”?
It could be.
Well, an interesting survey would be to ask those in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas who benefit from the fish hatcheries if they voted for Mr. Obama and how they feel about socialized fishing. Or perhaps Gaston’s White River Resort could rename its fish-catching course, “Marx’s Guide to Fly Fishing,” or “How to Fish Like a Socialist.” Or they could sell bumper stickers that read:
If you caught a fish, thank a liberal
In any case, Lyons points out that,
Contrary to…Tea Party dogma, American prosperity has always depended upon countless such examples of public-private synergy. There are similar stories all across the country.
He ends with a point my hammering-hand never gets tired of driving home—and something Democrats have chosen to ignore for now. Understanding the following is essential to understanding how to begin to fix our budget problems:
Meanwhile, measured as a percentage of GDP, federal tax revenue is at 14.4 percent—the lowest since 1950. (The 40-year average is 18 percent.) Marginal income tax rates on the McDuck class [“Donald Duck’s tightwad zillionaire relative”] top out at 35 percent—compared to 50 percent under President Reagan.
Only Mexico and Chile, among industrial nations, pay less.
Happy fishing, comrades!
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