National parks are a national treasure
The classic idea of a spring break trip is flying down to Cancun for a week in the hopes your parents don’t see you
on MTV.
As someone not overly fond of traditional excitement, I elected to take a geology trip with the earth science department to New Mexico.
Most of my destinations were national or state parks, places like Bandelier National Monument or Carlsbad Caverns. These are the sorts of places I was thrilled to be, the sort of place I’d hope to bring my kids to one day. That’s why the “skinny budget” proposed by the Trump administration has me worried.
For those blissful enough to not have heard, essentially every area of government that’s not the departments of Defense, Homeland Security or Veterans Affairs is going to be facing potential budget cuts in the next year.
This poses a tangible threat to the nature we all have a right to as citizens of this country.
President Trump has previously expressed indifference or contempt to environmental concerns. Unexploited nature is growing rarer by the day in our world of rapid economic development, and with that, it becomes more valuable not just to the people who want to enjoy it, but also to those who hope to milk it for a little more money.
Between these factors, it doesn’t seem completely unreasonable that the administration might blame national parks as an economic drag and seek to open them up for use by the private sector.
I understand that as a country we need business to create jobs and assist in national growth. However, these pieces of land don’t belong to any one person or organization, they belong to the American people.
The rich might have their own private lands to escape for the weekend, but the common person can’t leave for a few rounds of golf at Mar-a-lago.
In his Second Treatise on Government, John Locke argues that all nature is a common property and it’s unjust to take more than one needs. This is the same philosophy that helped shape the ideas of our founding fathers in starting our country.
Now, more than ever, we need to remember that it isn’t the government’s land, it is the land of we, the people of the United States, and all of our descendants to come.
Though a more fiscally conservative government may reduce funding and ensure the research of federal agencies, we must not allow them to be taken away from us. Industry is exceptionally talented at exploiting nature and blotting its wonder.
It’s up to the public to stop the encroachment of industry and budget cuts on the great national treasure we have in our parks and monuments.
Smith is a member of College Democrats and the Political Science League.
