Dear Editor of the Horse Gazette,

Enclosed is a copy of a letter I recently sent to all of the Senators and Representatives of Texas, with the exception of those that did not win their primary. You may print it if you wish. It would be great if all horse owners and other animal owners would write a similar letter to them also. We need to let our elected representatives know that we want our voices heard and we want our country back.

Hey! Here is a great idea. We need to elect a panel of citizens to monitor our elected representatives. We could pass a law that all of them must be chipped with a tracking device so the people could keep track of their every move. This law would require them to call in to the tracking committee every time they leave home, every time they return to their home, every time they meet with a special interest group, each time they meet with a contributor of campaign monies, each time they take a trip and for what purpose, and most importantly who paid for it, along with full disclosure of any other gifts or perks they received. They should also be required to disclose if their wife, children, or any other family member went with them, nd if they received any money, gifts or perks. Of course, they would have to register all of their premises and pay a fee to the citizens committee. The penalty for non-compliance would, of course be in line with the penalties they wish to impose on us (this is in order to be fair). A fine of $1,000 per day per violation, along with the criminal charges. However, since this would not have animals to confiscate or legally steal they would forfeit their job and never be allowed to serve in a government job for as long as they live.

I am sure our elected representatives would find this proposal as repugnant as we find theirs. However, it is as important to us to have honesty in politics, and to know that we are getting the representation we voted for, as it is to protect us from some animal disease. The truth is by the time they detect a disease of this magnitude it will be too late. These laws will not prevent disease. The fact is that we can already track animal diseases and have done so for many years. If it is proven that we need better preventions, I am sure we can come up with a way that does not burden our people with laws that will make them criminals or impose upon them a new tax/fee, or takes away their freedoms which they have enjoyed since the conception of this great nation. - Respectfully, Ron Hickerson, Pipe Creek, Texas

Mr. Hickerson's letter to his representative:

Dear Representative,

I am aware that you have been honorable enough to stand up and realize that the Texas Animals ID program needs to be revisited and is wrong in its present form. With the exception of this paragraph, I have sent this letter to our Texas state and Federal Senators and Representatives. Thank you for your support on this issue.

It has become apparent that one of the biggest problems in our political system has become that our Representatives have stopped listening to the constituents that put them in office to represent them. Instead it has become the rule rather than not for our politicians to listen to the lobbyists, financial contributors to their campaigns, and special interest groups regardless of the fact the majority of their constituents think otherwise. It has also become apparent that our government is succumbing to pressure from other countries to put in place rules and regulations to appease these other countries for the purpose of financial gain, regardless of whether or not it violates the principals of our beliefs or constitutional rights.

The issue that has recently come to the forefront is the NAIS Animal Identification out of the USDA and locally from our state the Texas Animal ID program. I say recently came to the forefront because WE THE PEOPLE are just now hearing about it and to what extent it will truly affect us. By purpose or by masterful design it has been successfully kept hidden from the public view until a house bill in Texas had already been passed into law along with a set of rules, punishments and penalties had been drawn up and ready to be implemented which is as great a violation of the citizens rights as I have ever seen, with the exception my college studies of Marxism and Communism.

Therefore, it is my belief that these representatives need to be reminded of a few definitions of some key terms or words that appear in our constitution. Maybe they haven't studied the constitution since high school. Maybe they have been too busy taking trips paid for by their lobbyists or campaign contributors. Whatever the case I am sure no Senator or Congressman will ever personally see or read this letter, but maybe someone in the office will and at some point mention that WE THE PEOPLE want to be heard. It is not the bird flu or mad cow disease we want protection from, it is the money hungry companies, special interest groups, lobbyists, etc., that are willing to trade our freedoms and rights and way of life away for the sake of money.

The following are definitions of just a few things I feel our representatives need to be reminded of. These came out of the constitution, which each representative took an oath to protect and uphold as I did when I entered the U.S. Army in 1970. The definitions came straight out of Webster's dictionary.

LIBERTY: (1) Freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity or ANY FORM OF ARBITRARY CONTROL. (2) The sum of rights and exemptions possessed in common by the people of a community, State, etc.

FREEDOM AT LIBERTY: (1) not confined; free (2) permitted to do or say something.

ARBITRARY: (this is in reference to the above to give a meaning to the term arbitrary control) (1) Not fixed by rules but left to ones judgment of choice; discretionary; (2) based on ones preference, notion, whim, etc.

THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY: (1) The quality or condition of being private; withdrawn from public view or company; seclusion (2) Secrecy. Ones private life or personal affairs (an invasion of ones privacy).

These are just a few of the many other principals that have made our country strong and great. It is a few of the principals that WE THE PEOPLE expect our leaders to not only live by, but to protect at all costs for us, and the generations to come.

It is my belief that we have already given up too many of our freedoms for the sake of making someone happy overseas or pandering them away to make big companies more money. Our country has always stood for something in the world of which individual freedoms has been one of the greatest. It has drawn people from every country. These people have been willing to take chances and endanger their lives to come to our country to obtain it. Our soldiers have died for it on many a battlefield and many others have had to live with lifelong pain and suffering obtained from injuries to protect these freedoms. Are we willing to turn our backs on these sacrifices for the sake of selling a T-Bone to China or Japan or any other country? Are we willing to put laws in place on a free people to achieve this same goal? I certainly hope not.

The other issue I have with this concept is that there has been no common sense approach to this whole issue. When you purchase a cell phone it comes with a warning that prolonged use of it can cause brain cancer. To my knowledge there has been no research that proves that prolonged exposure to an electronic device will not have a similar affect on our pets, livestock or horses. There has been no research to evaluate if these devices will create frequencies that will affect the animals in any way. Some frequencies can cause behavioral problems and can cause some to react in violent ways.

Another area to be looked at is technology. Every time it rains heavy the network that runs the satellite television loses signal. The duration of losses depends on the severity of the weather. Each time it attempts to reconnect it sends scrambled signals to the television screen. This is a satellite system supposedly with the newest technology. They cannot keep it on during the most needed time, when there is the greatest need. When we need to track severe storms in our area where is the signal?

My greatest fear is that there is not a system that is advance enough to be used to, implement a reliable tracking system that will work when it is needed the most. The greatest of these fears are safeguards that protect the citizens from back tracking devices, false readings, and fake signals caused by failures in the tracking devices, disrupted satellite signals, or even someone that is data processing making an error. The Texas Rules and Regulations does not take any of these into consideration. It makes no provisions for a natural disaster situation, at which time all communications will be non-functioning and may not be for weeks. It simply states the people will be subject to fines and penalties with no exceptions. It is apparent that the purpose of their plan is to make money for the Texas Animal Health Commission and the State of Texas. The Constitution of this country also states that no tax or duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any state. I consider their fee a tax, concealed as a registration charge. My whole point is that this subject has not been fully studied nor have the affects on the people been addressed in a manner that protects them from infringement of their rights, and so as not to create a division of any section of our government that can impose such rules, regulations, and penalties that makes them even in their appearance to be as Nazi Germany's secret police. Every law in this country must afford each and every legal resident a legal appeal and protection under our Bill of Rights and Constitutional Rights. But more important than even that, the law must be reasonable, well thought out, fair, and should reflect the will of the people, without regard to the powerful, rich, special interest groups, and lobbyists. The will of the people should take precedence over all things. I would interject that we cannot attempt to establish democracy in other countries until we can practice it in our country first.

Having said all of this, I hope you will stand up and oppose the USDA National Animal Identification System and the programs that have been set forth in each state. I am especially concerned with the one in Texas, which I am most familiar with. Hose Bill 1361 is a prefect example of state congressmen and congresswomen and state senators of voting for something they themselves did not fully comprehend nor did they take the time to understand how much power they were endowing to the Texas Animal Health Commission. The consequences are astounding and could result in a United States animal Gestapo that could bankrupt small animal operations and make criminals of the rest. The idea of reporting to any government every time I wish to ride my horse off my property or to have to check in with big brother about everything I do with regard to my animals makes me ill. The next thing I will have to do is wear a sign on my clothes stating I am an animal owner just like Hitler made the Jews wear the star of David so everyone knew they were Jews. This sounds absurd doesn't it? That's what the people of Germany thought until it was too late to stop it.

The last thing I have to say is be honest with the people that elected you. Stand up for the principles that have made this country great. Take a stand and STAND FOR SOMETHING OR YOU WILL FALL FOR ANYTHING. - Respectfully, Ron Hickerson