The video is from 2010, therefore of Obama administration vintage. The EPA’s tactics clearly haven’t changed, except to get more aggressive.
EPA Region VI Administrator Al Armendariaz: “I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said:
“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.
“Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”
“It’s a deterrent factor,” Armendariz said, explaining that the EPA is following the Romans’ philosophy for subjugating conquered villages.
It’s also deeply un-American. We’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty in this country, not treated as vile subjects crucified to serve as deterrent examples to others. Armendariz’s almost disinterested tone as he describes his oppressive tactics is chilling.
The EPA admin in the video isn’t blowing smoke or exaggerating. Remember the Sacketts, upon whom the EPA swooped with an insane effort to prevent them from building their dream house. The EPA operated as if it was above the law during the entire case; only a SCOTUS ruling stopped them from mercilessly persecuting the Sacketts.
The EPA needs to be disbanded and its properties sold off on the open market. To serve as an example to other overly ambitious government bureaucracies.
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