Curtailing the National Parks: Diminishing the Most Beloved Institution in American Society
“So what if the public’s experience is affected?” these beltway divas are telling each other. “They won’t be voting for us again.”
The excellent New West Travel and Outdoors has a followup column about cuts in the National Park Service operating budgets.
Only six months ago, political hacks in the Department of the Interior tried to use administrative rules to shred nearly century-old protections of the nation’s most cherished places. The public objected and they failed; now they are back, seeking to use a different kind of power to unravel some of the few remaining common bonds in our society.
I suspect that this too will backfire. National parks are one of the very few things Americans consistently point to as a visible symbol of their national identity. In their almost century and one-half of existence, the parks have been a crucial dimension of the glue that has bound Americans together as a nation.
When you visit the national parks this summer, be sure to let your congressional representatives know what you thought about the reductions in service.
