cates and social security numbers forrn”monitoring all students between thernages of five and 18.”rnWherever Jones and officials like himrnattempt to overstep their authority, attorneysrnat organizations like the HomernSchool Legal Defense Association try tornkeep them in check. Thirty-four statesrnnow have homeschooling statutes thatrnprevent unwarranted intrusion by governmentrnin what for centuries peoplernconsidered a natural relationship. Thernquestion is whether these laws reflect arnpreference for parental authority or arernmerely the government’s way of pacifyingrnpeople it regards as quacks.rnChristopher Check is the associate editorrnof The Family in America, a publicationrnof The Rockford Institute.rnENVIRONMENTrnThe NewrnConservationrnMovementrnby Jim ChristiernTo mainstream environmental activists,rnRon Arnold merits specialrndisdain. A former Sierra Club conser’ationrncommittee member, Arnold nowrnruns, with associate Alan Gottlieb, thernCenter for the Defense of Free Enterprisernin Bellevue, Washington. Togetherrnthey wrote a 1993 expose of the environmentalrnmovement. Trashing the Economy:rnHow Runaway Environmentalismrnis Wrecking America, which remainsrncontroversial for spotlighting corporaternfunding of mainstream environmentalrngroups.rnArnold and Gottlieb also figurernprominently in the “wise use” movementrnthat the environmental mainstreamrnsays is a front for rapacious naturalrnresource industries and a reason forrnthe current backlash against environmentalism.rnFor example, in the recentrnSierra Club book by David Helvarg,rnThe War Against the Greens: The WisernUse Movement, the New Right, and Anti-rnEnvironmental Violence, Arnold andrnGottlieb stand accused of helping tornwhip up nasty feelings against environmentalists.rnIn a January article in the alternativerntabloid Seattle Weekly, wise usernactivism in Okanogan County, Washington,rnis even accused of encouragingrn”a more insidious brand of recruitingrnby a militia group with ties to whiternsupremacists.”rnYet while such a linkage may have hadrnthem cheering in the Sierra Club’srnsuites, the environmental mainstreamrnhas more to worry about from Arnoldrnand Gottlieb than allegedlv fosteringrnracist agitation. For their center, andrnperhaps the amorphous wise use movementrnin general, is making commonrncause with what is known as the “NewrnConservation Movement.” As Arnoldrnexplains, “We have common enemies.”rnWhile the New Conservation Movementrnis made up of radical greens, it is arngrassroots effort that illustrates whatrnArnold and Gottlieb make clear in Trashingrnthe Economy. Arnold highlights anrnarticle hv leftist Alexander Cockburnrnand radical green Jeffrey St. Clair in thernDecember 19, 1994, issue of the Nationrnto underscore the common groundrnamong wise use and pure green activists.rn”The mainstream brass [of the environmentalrnmovement] is elitist, highly paid,rndetached from the people, indifferent tornthe working class and a firm ally of bigrngovernment,” they write. “Most Americansrnwill continue to honor local fightsrnand a local zeal against waste dumps,rnfilth and corporate depredations of publicrnlands and resources. But they won’trnhonor big-time green lobbies, swollenrnwith corporate slush, hand in glove withrnarrogant federal agencies, stuffing downrntheir throats the edicts of central power.”rnAll of the above have led Arnold andrnGottlieb to contemplate something thatrnwould have been unthinkable a few yearsrnago; a joint book project with the NativernForest Council in Eugene, Oregon. Thisrncouncil is best known for bringing thernzero-cut option in national forests backrninto play, not something most wise usersrnwill endorse. But as Arnold savs, “One ofrnthe reasons I have a more friendly feelingrntoward people who say what their realrngoal is, is that then we can have a real debatern. . . [and] when you have an honorablernadversary you can build respect andrncommon ground.” The feeling seemsrnmutual. Victor Rozek, editor of ForestrnVoice, the council’s tabloid, says, “Wernboth felt that the discussion needed tornbe elevated.”rnIt is also likely that the environmentalrnmainstream’s ties to corporate Americarnwill be dragged out for further inspectionrnby both sides. The go-ahead for greenrndissidents came in the October 1, 1994,rnissue of Counterpunch, in which Cockburnrnand coeditor Ken Silverstein give anrnendorsement to Getting Rich: The EnvironmentalrnMovement’s Income, Salary,rnContributions and Investment Patterns, arnbooklet published by Arnold and Gottlieb.rn”The idiom of rugged rural populismrnchosen by the Wise Users,” thevrnwrite, “is amply justified by the materialrnthey review.”rnThe council is more than warming tornthat idiom. Cockburn was recently invitedrnto speak at a Universitv of OregonrnLaw School environmental law forumrnbut had to bow out, making way forrnArnold to stand in his place. “Cockburnrncouldn’t show,” says Arnold. “I think thernNative Forest Council said, ‘Have Arnoldrnthere.'” As it turns out, the council didrnjust that. To be precise, having Arnoldrnappear was the idea of Tim Hermach,rnthe council’s executive director. “A lotrnof people think the wise use movementrnis a big demon,” he says. “The wisernuse movement and environmentalistsrnshould be aligned if ‘Big Government’ isrnthe problem.”rnArnold returned the favor to the NewrnConservationists by inviting St. Clair tornspeak on a panel with him at the annualrnwise use movement conference in Reno,rnNevada, last Julv. According to Arnold,rnthe invitation was meant to be a “historicrnfirst, an effort not so much to buildrnbridges, but an effort in how we can reinforcerneach other.” And reaching out,rnArnold says, is something he will continuernto do. “All I can say without violatingrnconfidence is that we are expanding ourrncontacts with radical, what I’d say are authentic,rnenvironmentalists,” he says.rn”We won’t dance with them on manyrnissues, but on certain ones we will.”rnBut the Reno gig didn’t fully pan out:rnSt. Clair had a family emergency andrncouldn’t make it. That left Arnold alonernto explain his center’s new friendship tornan audience warmed up throughout itsrnSaturday session by all-star propertyrnrights advocates such as Mark Pollot, authorrnof Grand Theft and Petit Larceny:rnProperty Rights in America; Chuck Gushman,rnthe fax network activist who runsrnthe American Land Rights Association;rnand William Perry Pendley, author ofrnWar on the West and the president andrnCEO of the Mountain States Legalrn48/CHRONICLESrnrnrn