The Chilkoot Homesite: Election 2012

The Glory that IS Ted Stevens of Alaska!

Photo Courtesy the National Post

The
Honorable Ted Stevens of Alaska: ‘Bruised
but not Conquered!'

First of all,
the thing to remember about Ted Stevens is that he is not a crook. He is an
honorable man with many years of devoted service to Alaska and the Nation.What
went wrong for him was that he had friends that he could not shake that
eventually got him into trouble. Try politics without friends, and friends that
can't always be controlled, or trusted.

The second thing, when people talk bad about Alaska and about not sending
money up there because of the corruption in State politics, they need to keep
in mind that the territory that actually falls under State jurisdiction is only
about 30% of Alaska's land mass. The rest
of the territory belongs to and falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal
Government in the way of National Parks, National Forest Lands and Native Lands. For all the 'Lower
48' has benefited from Alaska, and will benefit in the future, the U.S.
Government HAD BETTER take care of Alaska and keep the State in its camp! Alaska represents the future
of the Nation and will play an integral role in nation's ability to eventually
become energy self-sufficient.

Another point I wish to make....is that I (particularly) am part of the 'old
aristocracy' of Alaska - of pioneer stock,
represented by the days BEFORE Statehood. We weren't corrupt back then as
things are now. Corruption occurred after the discovery of oil in Alaska in the late 60s and
following the construction of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline after which the
territory experienced a large influx of 'newcomers' and oil money into the State.

With the 'newcomers' came avarice, greed and lawlessness (a phenomenon that has
occurred in every frontier situation) and with that greed, was born the seeds
of the political corruption that you see today in Alaska and in our National
politics. But, it's not just about Ted Stevens, Don Young or Frank Murkowski or
what's happened to their character...

...While I was growing up in the State...the population was around 85,000. By
the end of the 70s, the population had exploded to over 450,000 - with growth
mostly concentrated in the Westward area of Alaska around Anchorage where the oil company
headquarters are located. While I was growing up in Alaska, everybody knew
everybody. People like Ernest Gruening, Ted Stevens, Mike Gravel, Don Young and
others were just people we knew. They worked for us. Our community was small
and tight-knit. Everybody knew everybody's business.

But, with the influx of 'newcomers' to Alaska also came a change - a
'metamorphosis' (if you will) of our political camp - a change that over time
caused our elected officials to become 'distant' and 'aloof', 'detached and
hard to approach' on a personal level as the interests of the 'new majority' to
Alaska began to prevail on the thinking of State Officials, reshaping their
political loyalty as necessary for getting re-elected in a the democratic
system of State politics.

One 'characteristic' of the 'new majority' was that it did not want to wait in
line for its turn to collect on Alaska's oil dividend...it wanted it all 'right
now' on a 'silver platter'. Within this political environment was the Alaska
Permanent Fund born and reshaped by the interests of Alaska's 'new
majority'...and what the original folks up in Alaska ended-up with as far as
the Alaska Permanent Funds is concerned, was not the original plan, but was
something forced on the State by outside politics and by the greed of the
newcomers who were not interested in lending credit to those who were native or
had helped to pioneer the State.

Oh, yes, they did come up with the 'Longevity Bonus' for Pioneers...but today
even that has been dissolved. So, when one talks about 'socialism in Alaska'
one must reflect on the thieving and carpetbagging that had been going on in
Alaska since the discovery of oil and after the influx of 'newcomers' to the
State...and the consequences were such that 'Alaska's own money was used to
virtually colonize the State by 'the Lower 48.'

The Alaska Permanent Fund Program has since become the biggest  give-a-way
ever conceived by any government since the dawn of civilization. So, as you can
see, the influence of 'oil money' and 'newcomers' to the State of Alaska are actually the
events that caused the politics of the State and its spending to spin
out-of-control.

Luckily, the people of Alaska were able to put caps on what politicians have
been able to spend out of the Permanent Fund or even that would be gone in the
way that deficit spending and the national debt in the 'Lower 48' has spun out
of control in recent years!

Men like Ted Stevens, Don Young, Frank Murkowski and many others in the service
of the State who had once served so well the pioneers and native people, by the
late 1970s, found themselves caught up trying to satisfy the demands of
Alaska's new majority...the 'newcomers' who had followed in the wake of
Alaska's oil boom.

As I look back, 'that corrupt state' which people talk about when they think of
Alaska is only a reflection of that 'Ugly American' status that the United
States has acquired for itself around the world in its dealing with other
communities and peoples...which explains why organizations like 'the Alaska
Independence Party' came into being.

So, IMO, whenever one hears talk about Alaska and talk about corruption up
there, what that person needs to do if they live in one of the other 49 States,
is to go to the mirror and take a look.

There is the 'real' face of corruption in Alaska.

As far as Ted Stevens is concerned...yes, he did become corrupt... but only in
a good way (for the 'real' Alaska) for it was only through his 'porkbarrelling'
has Alaska even begun to become adequately compensated for the rape of its
natural resources: its fish; its timber; its gold and silver and now even its
gas and oil, not to speak of the rape of the subsistence resources of the native
peoples of Alaska to which the 'new majority' in up there still wants 'equal
access' to - and not for subsistence purposes in particular, but for 'sport'.

Yes, the 'Lower 48' has reaped great rewards from Alaska...far more than what
it ever paid Russia for the territory back in the 1860s...and will continue to
reap even more benefits in the future...as long as the lower indigenous states
minds their Ps and Qs and maintains an open and charitable heart towards the
true people and 'Spirit of Alaska'. Otherwise, what they may find in the future
is having to deal with a 'cold, cold heart' instead of the generosity and the
sacrifice that has been displayed by 'true Alaskans' towards the plight of the
folks of the lower indigenous states in their quest for 'cheap energy' and
other resources.

As far as Sarah Palin is concerned...she's a 'newcomer' to Alaska.

Sarah Palin is not part of the old aristocracy of Alaska like Ted Stevens and
I...and this has nothing to do with the 'Good ole' Boy Network'.

I never was one of the 'good ole boys' - which is a slogan and a label that
originates from the influence of Texas oilmen in Alaska and racial bigotry in America's 'Old South'.

And, I will tell you the truth that while Ted Stevens, Frank Murkowsky, Don Young
and many of the other Alaska politicians were out there pandering to the
newcomers to Alaska during the 70s, 80s and 90s, there were many times when I
stood up and complained about what was going on and refused to get
involved...and many times I got knocked down for trying to stand up for the
Alaska that I knew and remembered from my childhood and loved.

But, the people that I represented were not the majority of Alaska anymore. Already made
a legend, I was part of an old aristocracy...the 'original' pioneers and Native
People of Alaska who were pushed aside while the rest of the nation made a grab
for the territory's oil and other natural resources.

Men like Ted
Stevens, Frank Murkowsky, Don Young and every Governor and lawmaker that the
State has had since Statehood became creatures of circumstance influenced by
the newcomer population to Alaska and the interests of
big oil.

Meanwhile, we have seen the U.S. Government itself fall under the influence of
big oil with the advent of the Bush and Cheney Administration and the
importance of oil to the continuance of Western Civilization as we know it
today amidst dwindling fossil fuel supplies around the globe. The final result
of this is that reality and priorities nation-wide have became distorted by our
addiction to the oil we need to drive our machines.

The dangerous thing that has also transpired in the latter half of the 20'th
Century is that National Security and the interests of 'big oil' have finally
had become synonymous under the Bush White House, distorted by personal
commercial interests in the Texas oil industry and ties to the Saudis...which
explains (in part) how the American people have found themselves caught up in
an unpopular war in Iraq and how they are now faced with a situation where the
Iraqi government (which was initially installed by the Bush White House), along
with multi-national private oil, may steal away the investment that our
government has made to have acceess to that country's oil...oil that is needed
by the American people to offset the cost of engaging in that misguided
conflict...all because of the way and for the reasons we invaded, reasons we
have come to know that are disconnected from the justifications we were given
for the war that did not warrant the invasion...which, I might add, I was
against from the beginning... and, the end result of that, being: the advent of
Barack Obama.

by James Carder

A Republican from Alaska living in the heart of Central Oregon

The advent of Barack Obama...is now become the reason and purpose of Election 2012.

NEXT - 'Moving Forward - Election
2012'