Forcing future generations to depend on foreign food is immoral

Dear Editor,

Just a few weeks ago, on May 21, 2014 without much fan fair, the President created a Monument in New Mexico with the use of the 1906 Antiquities Act.  He designated 600,000 acres in Doña Ana County in need of protection.  The area supports 10,000 cattle and 95 families.  That is enough beef to feed 61,000 people annually.

Maybe the administration did not know that there is a U.S. beef shortage.  Maybe they did not realize that we are nearing $18 trillion in debt and that Social Security and Medicare part A are adding to the debt.  Maybe the administration is unaware that the Interior Department and Forest Service have a combined unfunded maintenance obligation of $30 billion with no plan to address the deficiencies.

Maybe the administration did not know that Leon Panetta, who spoke at the University of Montana April 24 and point blank said “Our most dangerous national security issue is our inability to deal with the budget.” Panetta recently directed the Central Intelligence Agency and Office of Management and Budget, and chaired the U.S. House Budget Committee. “We need tax reform and a budget deal that tells us where the U.S. is going.  If we cannot fix this, we will not be a strong nation in the future.  We will be a nation in decline.”  With 92 million working age Americans not in the workforce, one wonders what matric the Government would need to recognize that our country is in decline?

The U.S. beef herd is still the smallest since 1950, when the U.S. population was 150 million.  The shortage has increased the importation of beef to the U.S.  This is not some far away issue as one can purchase ground beef in the Havre WalMart that is “All Natural” but is grown and harvested in Australia and New Zealand.

While we cannot control the weather, we can control the uses of our natural resources for the benefit of people.  For someone, including the President, to deny another person a safe and affordable domestically produced hamburger, on a massive scale, or to make young people and future generations dependent on foreign countries for their food, is immoral.

Deb Sjostrom

Malta