Those of you who have read my words on these pages over the last handful of years know that I am not necessarily a Donald Trump fan. With that said, I am pulling for him to have a successful presidency, and there’s little doubt that his first month in office has been something to behold. Today, I want to talk about some things that have impressed me, then specifically about something that does not. 

Let’s talk about the positives first. When he ran for Office, Barack Obama promised that he would weed out government waste wherever it existed. When he ran for Office, Joe Biden promised he would weed out government waste wherever it existed. And what happened? The monstrosity of the federal bureaucracy grew evermore out of control, with wads of money going God knows where and being used for God knows what. 

I have friends who are traditionally more left-leaning in their political leanings who have privately stated that what they’re witnessing regarding digging out those long camouflaged black holes of money within our federal government has impressed them. While they don’t necessarily trust Trump or Elon Musk, they also admit that anyone placed in the position of trying to root out literal decades of this lunacy is not going to create warm and fuzzy feelings everywhere. 

When I look at what is happening with many government agencies seeing positions within them eliminated, it’s hard for me to fathom how many of these positions were jobs in the first place. Unfortunately, we all know that special interests and lobbyists hold a disproportionate amount of influence within Washington DC. This is nothing new. Both parties have been complicit and are guilty of using such for their own less-than-transparent purposes. 

With that said, I do hope that Trump isn’t flexing his muscle in a purely vindictive manner toward those he feels like might have wronged him in the past. That kind of pettiness is unnecessary and counterproductive for our country. Say what you will, but the decisions our federal government makes have to be bigger than being based on how they affected or impacted any one lone person, even if that one person is the president. 

Overall, there is no doubt that Donald Trump is pretty well doing exactly what he promised to do when he was campaigning. Not that that is good or bad, but I have to say that seeing the federal government doing something other than spending more and more money and being a stagnant pool has been a positive. 

But, embedded in that process, the now thousands of cuts we are seeing regarding our national parks is a huge concern for me. I think we, liberal and conservative, can all agree that our national parks, state parks, and those areas that have been preserved for the generations who will come after us in our nation are vitally important. 

There is little doubt if those places aren’t protected, they will almost assuredly be exploited. All you have to do is look at the current effort by purely profit-driven motives to start mining titanium by the Okefenokee if you need verification of that. 

I have friends who have worked for the National Park Service for 15 or more years, one approaching retirement. They are regular people from regular families who have a passion for making sure at least some of those places are protected from development. They have started families of their own, and have done absolutely nothing wrong other than invest themselves in something they believe (as well as many of us) is a vitally important part of America. 

So what happened? They found out last week that they no longer have jobs. No warning, no discussion, no explanation, no justification. Mind you, these aren’t positions just created over the last decade or so. These are jobs that have been in existence as long as the parks themselves, and it must be noted there was already a shortage of people willing to work in them. 

Just as I said about standardized testing inside our schools last week, a one-size-fits-all pair of pants never fits all situations – not even close. I sincerely hope that someone who has President Trump‘s ear will recommend he step back and look at this part of these cuts, and hopefully see the same brush he is using to paint across so many unnecessary and wasteful programs that should not and cannot be used on these national treasures. 

And, the bottom line is, without people to care for them and maintain them they will gradually be compromised, with irreparable damage taking place in the process. 

I understand that Trump is a businessman, and even though the successes or failures of those businesses are debatable, clearly he is used to and very comfortable with saying “You’re fired.” The problem is this is not some reality show where the only people affected are actors within the camera’s view. 

The potential harm to our national and state parks is very much real. I would hope we can all agree they are just too important to compromise or mow down in the interest of trying to prove you are fulfilling a campaign promise.