The Washington Post article continues:
Glen Williams, known as “The Boss” to many locals, sees government increasingly as standing in his way of putting more food in people’s mouths. He owns Central Pastime, the only bar in town, and as he sees it, federal mandates have chipped away at the ability of locals to do business, work the land and manufacture.
“The town sticks together,” he said. “We take care of each other. But there’s getting to be less and less of us to take care of.”
Williams has lived in Burns on and off since 1974 and remembers when six or seven bars served local patrons. His bar weathered a mill shutdown, the demise of a motor home manufacturing plant and the struggles of ranchers trying to scratch out a living.
Williams blames the sagging economy, in part, on ever-increasing federal mandates and environmental regulations that have restricted timber harvests, limited grazing and toughened emissions standards. That made it hard for the mobile home manufacturing plant to compete.
“If everyone was happy with the government, you wouldn’t have seen the rally,” he said.
