| August 5, 2005 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth On Being a Bear
When we met Jay Hammond at the edge of Lake
Hood on a summer day in 1998, he looked strong and healthy, his cane
more saber or staff than crutch. We were videotaping him for an
infomercial urging Alaskans to vote down a proposal to raid the
Permanent Fund. “I’ve done three interviews this morning, and I’m lined up for a debate next week,” he said has he stood on the shore in front of his floatplane. “I guess that’s not too bad for a 76 year-old.” “Gosh, Jay, you’re really working this campaign hard,” I replied, as I helped him attach a microphone to his lapel. He looked at me, narrowing his sharp, gray-blue eyes. “Well, I always say, if you’re gonna be a bear, you might as well be a grizzly.” The “Father of the Permanent Fund,” who died Tuesday at the age of 83, led a group of Alaskans that year whose backgrounds spanned the political spectrum. After a press conference, columnist Mike Doogan labeled the group a “rag tag army” in a fight against Big Oil, the tourism industry and Juneau politicians. Hammond’s tenacity inspired us and we won. More than 80 percent of Alaskans voted no on a plan that would have amounted to a type of regressive taxation. Promoting a permanent fund dividend program as a way to re-distribute the state’s oil wealth, Hammond’s larger vision of “Alaska, Inc.” would have all residents become shareholders of the state’s rich bounty. The fruit of socialism wrapped in a peeling of capitalism. Underpinning his views was a sense of equality and social justice. According to the New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Vernon Smith called the PFD program "a model governments all over the world would be wise to copy." In conversations I had with him in recent years, he clearly was concerned about the flow of our public wealth to private corporations. Oil companies, he knew, wield a dangerous amount of political and economic influence. Unlike most of our lily-livered politicians, Hammond was never afraid to play ball. It was always my dream that Jay Hammond would run for office again. I wanted him to take out that windbag Don Young. The two political figures are a study in contrasts. While Jay’s words and actions were unequivocally centered on the improvement of living standards for all Alaskans, Don Young’s interests lie on behalf of a small class of speculators, industry bosses and himself. His billion-dollar “Don Young’s Way” project, a bridge spanning Knik Arm, would benefit his buddies with large Mat-Su land holdings while saddling Alaskans with an endless spiral of maintenance costs. Outside construction cartels, Big Oil, and the automotive industry—the serpents whose fangs Jay fought to avoid—have Don as their goofy and flamboyant servant boy. To honor Jay, make a commitment. Help expose Don Young’s flagrant, wasteful spending. Lift your chest and point a stiff finger towards those Don Young patsies who want to shove a freeway full of traffic through your neighborhood. Send them back to D.C., to their corporate boardrooms, with a little more than a court summons. We need an army of Hammonds. Go ahead. Be a Grizz. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist. He resides in an undisclosed location in Southeast Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
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| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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