In the John Wayne classic Eldorado, the storyline is John Wayne as Cole Thornton, a gunfighter, travels back to Eldorado to help his now-town-drunk friend, Eldorado sheriff J.P. Harrah, because a feud is brewing between the wealthy, evil rancher Bart Jason and Kevin McDonald, a long-time rancher in the area, over water rights.

In 2025, Oregon's supermajority Democrats are acting like Bart Jason, pushing for control of all water rights across Oregon. Many small ranches and farms in Oregon are being threatened with well monitoring and paying for water under their own land. The Democrat-led Oregon legislature is using its power and money to pressure landowners, wineries, farmers, and ranchers to give up their God-given water rights to the state of Oregon. When we look at who is behind these proposals and bills, we find self-important Democrat lawmakers who fashion themselves as environmental crusaders. Yet, these very same legislators do not live in rural Oregon. They are urban dwellers who use public water systems for their needs yet believe they can tell others what they must do with their land and water.

So this is an old problem, the struggle about who owns the water rights, the new Bart Jasons or the hard-working people farming, ranching, and raising food for the rest of the country. A friend talked to me about their struggles to make their small farm a success and how Oregon continues to put in place foolish tax policies and fees designed to rob wealth from the workers and give it to the state. Oregon is such a broken, corrupt, depressing place that most people you talk to eventually get to the conversation of leaving Oregon and their money-grubbing Democrat politicians.

Eldorado the movie was entertaining, the sequel Oregon 2025 is maddening and depressing

John Woods: Father, Husband, Conservative, Activist, Patriot, Veteran, Voting Delegate to the state Oregon Republican Party.

Images: Public Domain Pictures