› Conservation The Conservative Way

By Dave Funk, Candidate, Iowa’s 3^rd Congressional District.

For some reason there is this increasing disposition towards those of us that are for drilling here in the US, that for some reason we hate the environment.  Many of you read my post on “Climate Gate” and are fully aware of my stance against man-made global warming.

Does this stance, by default, move me into the camp against preserving this beautiful, God-given world we live in?  No.  As a matter of fact, I’ve often said that as a hunter, “I was green before green was cool.”

Global warming has been a tool used against the US to redistribute wealth over-seas.  This man-made scheme was created with the wrong reasons and with the wrong goals in mind.

As the President of the Iowa Chapter of the Safari Club International let me share what we believe – straight from the SCI website:

“Every member of SCI is a conservationist on many levels. From their membership dollars that go to support the SCI Foundation’s global activities, to their local chapter projects, to their support of federal and local game and fish agencies through purchase of licenses and sporting equipment, members of SCI are conservationists of the best kind.”

We’ve been playing this silly game for years now. It’s not about eating strictly organic foods, becoming vegetarians or owning a hybrid.  It’s about conserving what we have but using what we need.  If drilling for oil helps us move towards energy independence then it’s what we need to do.  Not to destroy the planet, but rather, to preserve our independence.  To balance trade with our foreign neighbors.  To restore our Nation’s security.  To create more American jobs.

Conservation is the conservative way.  We need to conserve the dollar and stop this dysfunctional, stupid spending.  We need to conserve the resources we have through improved efficiencies and technology.  We need to conserve our freedoms through the Constitution as our Founding Fathers intended.  We need to conserve our economy through decreased public sector intervention.  We need to conserve!

We don’t turn away from our God-given resources.  We use them to the best of our ability while using innovation and technology to preserve them and the ecosystem from which they are extracted.  Through ingenuity we will do it.