For several years I have conducted an attempted
conversation with Ione’s Scott Williams. In the context of a discussion the of state
capital anti lock down demonstration on the FB page entitled “District 2
Politics, Suggestions, and Information” he
made the following statement: “Kind of like the next incarnation of the
Tea Party, which was actually a continuation of the John Birch Society, which
may have been an extension of the KKK. Timing is about right, as is philosophy.”
Since
I like challenging, or in this case perhaps, impossible tasks...I will attempt to
educate Scott Williams and counter his ignorant remarks.
Firstly, there
were two KKK’s. The first was a self defense organization of locals during the
reconstruction period. Many historians consider it to have been a valid, necessary
and responsible organization. The second KKK is the vile anti-black,
anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic organization with remnants still around today.
They were morally empowered by progressive Woodrow Wilson’s membership that
many claim lead to the Tulsa riots of 1921. Many white people drove to the
ghetto, risking their lives, to save black people and then hide them in their
homes. How much credit are they given in the current left wing renditions of
history? The Klan blacklisted them along with threats of murder.
The John Birch Society was an upper class reaction and
seemingly WASP group that included leaders of dubious distinction such as the
Koch brothers,along with very credible people such as William Buckley, Jr. He
was appalled by the prejudice against his Catholicism and also credited by many
as opposing anti-Semitism among conservatives. But whatever one thinks of the
Birch Society, their calls such as exit the United Nations has proved
pubescent.
The Tea Parties were a mass, populist uprising to the
Obama tyranny. Muslim appeasement,
anti-Christian maneuvers, under the table but devastating changes in government
procedures such as changing the question on the citizenship exam from freedom
of religion (American style) to freedom of worship (Soviet style), severe over
regulation including usurpation of not granted powers best exhibited with the
Pebble Bay EIR, politicizing government agencies into Gestapo type
organizations including the Justice Dept., increasing the Federal deficit to
unconscionable levels,and many more that I can only list if I decide to allow
myself to get sick. Larry Elder, a black man, was a Tea Party leader in Los
Angeles while Mark Meckler, a Jew, was a founder of Northern California’s Tea
Party Patriots. This is quite different than the Birch demographic and a
radical opposite of the Klan.
There is vast diversity among those right of center as
there is among those left of center. To believe otherwise is not only ignorant,
but also dangerous because it precludes understanding, responsible thought and
concomitant, sensible proposals.
Just prior to the above in the same discussion I answered
that corrosive comment with: “I’ve said
this before about you and I will repeat it. You seem to take an 1890’s muck
raking novel and blindly apply it to Amador County as a template. A few years
ago you commented that Pine Grove being in three supervisorial districts is
likely the result of gerrymandering. A few decades ago, Pine Grove setup a
Community Services District to manage the new group septic system. By custom
and probably by law,a Community Services District has to be within one
supervisorial district. (That’s called commonsense and functional democracy)
The group septic system is good for the environment (remember that there is a
creek behind the shops on the south side of Hwy 88) and good for small
businesses by relieving them of separate septic systems and their maintenance.
It was a consensus project with no known opposition.
But you don’t check before you speak. You once made the comment that there are
plenty of jobs in Amador County based on a cursory look at the Ledger. If you
actually read those ads, you would notice that they are almost all specialized
and affect a tiny number of possible applicants. You have opposed the Newman
Ridge project based on your statement: “All that pollution for just nine jobs”
I read the complete EIR, that pollution is minimal to nonexistent. How about
some facts? The average skilled wage job supports two and a half people. Plus
the increased retail employment and sales tax revenue. How about the andesite
produced for stronger roadbeds? The recycling of older roadbed materials? The
cost lowering nearness of hot mix that will help repair our roads at no
additional cost? The property tax revenue to the County? The needed traffic on
our railroad to sustain it for the future? To oppose Newman Ridge is a dead
wish for our County. You make (or post) snap judgments rather than think
critically. I may not be as vociferous as some commentators here, but I can be
just as upset.
Did you support the candidate that opposed Brian Oneto in the last election? I
went to every forum/debate of that election. That candidate had no rapport with
the audience and made no eye contact with them. She frightened me as a possible
elected official; totally separate from her various positions.”
He never responded with direct statements to any of my
posting nor has he justified his unsubstantiated statements .In 2016, I posted
here: “Scott Williams, Citizen Extraordinaire."
Over the course of many local Facebook discussions I have
become familiar with a denizen of Ione named Scott Williams. He writes well and
seems intelligent. But all his statements and responses have a cookie cutter
quality. After a while they become banal; it’s as if I could write his dialogue
in less time than it takes to read it. Then a possible explanation occurred to
me, he has read too many 1890’s muckraking novels and has applied them carte
blanche, as a template, upon Amador County.
He comments resonant to that prior reality with often
very little attachment to the present day. He has stated that our county
supervisors lack accountability. Has he seen them interact with constituents’
during the open comment period at board meetings? Has he emailed or called any
of them? His insults to two of our
supervisors were so unwarranted that a scripted agenda seems the only answer.
He asserted that the supervisorial districts were gerrymandered without any
factual basis. He questions the validity of ag zoning around Ione related to
Newman Ridge while ignoring the obvious that the General Plan is general. Ag
zoning around a town is a holding zoning. To rezone for industry or dense
residential would unfairly raise the value of one parcel over another. The
taxing consequences would be akin to an inverse condemnation. Overzoning has been a frequent and sometimes
accurate criticism of the environmentalists.
He feels that predatory power companies are the reasons
behind resistance to solar. While that is true he neglects the rest of the
equation which includes big labor opposing rooftop solar in favor of mega
projects with Davis-Beacon style wages and sometimes environmental damage. But
if you question his answers he will usually attack rather than discuss. Pushing
his beliefs far outweigh finding a solution. He claims that Amador County is
secretly ruled by an old boy’s network. Probably it appears that way to his
perception. When I moved here as a total stranger I was warmly welcomed by the
old timers. Probably that was because I liked it the way it was when I moved
here and didn’t enter in an attack mode telling others how to live or govern
themselves.”
Along with the above history, there is much more to the
recent FB discussions with Scott that merit rebuttal, but I’ve made my point.
Note: The movie, Birth of a Nation (about the first Klan), is considered by many as the anthem of the current Klan. But remember that D.W.
Griffith was a liberal who founded United Artists with Mary Pickford, Douglas
Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin to be free from the studio system. The film historian I studied under, who wrote
the now standard text on Hollywood history, said Birth of a Nation was edited
into the released version against Griffith’s wishes. I don’t claim to be the final word on this,
but it’s certainly worth further study. Griffith’s next film, Intolerance, was
according to some a response to what he felt was unjust criticism of Birth of a
Nation.
Copyright 2020, Mark L. Bennett
