Flies First? Let’s Rethink Our Priorities

When last we left the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly in California’s Inland Empire, the little tyke was being anthropomorphized by a professor who claimed ignoring the fly is to “subvert the hand of God.” Making clear his devotion to the critter, he added: “It’s a fly you can love. It’s beautiful.”

As of a few weeks back, this beauteous inch-long brownish buzzer--a federally designated endangered species--was holding hostage the construction of new ramps on a Riverside freeway. The federal Fish and Wildlife Service played hardball in negotiations with county transportation authorities--offering to back off if taxpayers would fund a 200-acre “preserve” for this noble beast at costs running to as much as $32 million (more than the ramps would cost).

This legalized extortion was proposed in regards to an area where no one knows for sure whether the fly even exists. Riverside officials were looking to pay some baksheesh just to avoid two additional years of delay to an important transportation upgrade that would benefit-- gasp!--human beings.

Not to be outdone, Riverside’s neighbor to the west boasts a rival to the Delhi Sands fly. Introducing . . . the endangered southwestern arroyo toad. Kermit’s cousins currently reside along and around San Mateo Creek in the northernmost reaches of San Diego County. The Foothill South toll road is scheduled to link up to the San Diego Freeway elevated above a fraction of this creek.

It’s for the sake of this little guy that enviro-nihilists prefer the alternative--20 years from now--of 270,000 motorists choking on traffic gridlock as they struggle through the San Diego Freeway corridor linking Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. On behalf of this toad and sundry other animals, insects and weeds, the toll road agency ultimately will expend roughly $60 million for mitigation.

The arroyo toads did merit $23,000 of your tax dollars for biologists to conduct a radio telemetry study of their movements. The study consisted of strapping a belt around the toads that carried a transmitter to follow them around. Alas, the study was ended early because 18 out of 83 studied suffered injuries from the transmitters, and two may have even died--giving new meaning to the notion of Mr. Toad’s wild ride.

Enough. What is so strange about this Kafkaesque world of creature worship is that it’s written about in the mainstream media as if it’s perfectly normal. Clearly, it’s not politically correct to question these Olympian devotions to a variety of animal species in the face of incontrovertible detriment to the human species.

By the time all the Orange County toll roads are complete, they will have spent about $200 million just on environmental mitigation--and probably another $10 million to fend off obstructionist lawsuits.

Now, let’s compare priorities. Forget for a moment about 83 toads or a few dozen sand flies. Consider this: There are 14,000 known victims of domestic violence in Orange County alone, the vast majority being women. Battering is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44. Consider further: The total amount available in California for public service announcements discouraging domestic violence is less than half a million dollars. And the handful of heroic private organizations dealing with domestic violence are forced to plead around the clock for financial pittances.

This juxtaposition of two social phenomena illustrates a pathetic sense of priorities in modern America. Why do we whisper about these wackos in our midst--as if they are like the unwelcome uncle at Thanksgiving whom families tolerate in silence? They have made politicians, opinion leaders and our mass media quake in fear even as they propagate the absurdities of their cause through the silliness of their overheated rhetoric.

There are but a few Americans who recklessly would destroy the patrimony of our natural heritage--or who would, for a moment, bargain away our rights to clean air and water. But these boundaries of reason for sensible national causes have been breached.

When hundreds of millions of dollars go toward appeasing these extremist causes while there is near voicelessness for women and children living in daily terror, we ought at least to ponder whether our culture is beginning to spin out of balance. It’s certainly worthy of debate as to whether we attached more importance to fractured families or disrupted amphibians. And don’t whisper about it.

Kenneth L. Khachigian is a veteran political strategist and former White House speech writer who practices law in Orange County. His column appears here every other week.