If you don't live out west, you won't get this blog

We live in a damn big country, not some piddly-ass country the size of, say, France.  But we Americans all have an equal vote, meaning that someone in a New York City apartment the size of my bedroom can decide what my life will be like tomorrow and in the years to come.  Someone whose feet rarely feel anything but concrete.  Whose idea of gardening is tending whatever potted thing will survive in the smog and small space.  How can voters from such disparate environments make choices that benefit both?

Here in the west, we have to drive miles to work, to the grocery store, to the doctor.  We garden in quarter and half acres.  We face dangerous weather and animals regularly.  There is a different code of life here.  In many ways, it can be a 'kill or be killed' life.  Predators predate, prey dies. I don't think a concrete bound city person can really understand that.

So, don't tell me I can't drive certain days, or that I can't kill certain predators that decimate my flock or herd.  Or that I have to let certain people have access to my private life or property. Unh-uh.  

The above picture on the left shows a wolf print next to my husband's hand.  I have often been followed in my outdoor activities by cougar, bobcat, or coyote.  My friend and her family were riding horses one day when a cougar ripped the brisket out of her son's pony, sending boy and pony over a cliff.  Boy survived.  Pony did not.  Cougar didn't, either, thanks to my friend's .357 revolver.  Think a native downtown New Yorker (or Washington, D.C.-er, or Chicagoan) could understand that scenario?

The other two photos show a cattle drive traffic jam on the road.  It also indicates the great expanses of country Westerners drive to make a living or get anywhere.  Difficult to imagine if you've never even owned a car.

All I'm saying is that certain decisions should be left to local governments, even more so than they are now.  My state reps and neighbors know what I need to get by, we share similar agendas.  Keeping big government out of my daily life is important, worth fighting for.