Stillman's Argument Analysis

On her article Stillman brings up the point of how “in the old days they (ranchers) hired contractors to gun down mustangs and bring them their ears. Today, Big Beef still hires guns- Politicians who set policy for the Bureau of Land Management…” Stillman is clearly opposing to the bill signed by ex-president Bush, which left the wild horses unprotected. Throughout her article she talks about how government involvement might affect the icon that wild horses represent both ways, positively and negatively. The bill signed my ex-president Nixon protected wild horses and burros from those who wanted to take them to the slaughterhouses; however, the legislation passed my ex-president Bush made a turn around to what Nixon had done in benefit of
the wild horses. Stillman opposes to our government’s way to handle the issue and is clearly stating that powerful beef companies are telling our politicians how to create public policy concerning this matter. The before mentioned quote makes a great comparison with ranchers and guns and indicates how things have not changed much over the years, it’s about the money and power. Although the mustang is one of the icons of American culture, it seems that the government has other priorities and protecting the wild horses is not one of them. I think that this is a very powerful article and maybe it does involve emotions to some extent, but saving this symbol of the American Western conquest is quite worth it. Perhaps, our government needs to focuses more on preserving American as once was and not make of the wild horses a story book to be read by future generations.
Stillman, Deanne. “Thinking about Wild Horses” Critical Thinking. Boston, MA.