The Republican Party War Against The National Park System... Meet Cliff Stearns (R-FL)

I can never repeat these paragraphs from Mike Lux's book, The Progressive Revolution, too frequently:

If you look at our country’s long history, from the days of the first stirrings of our revolutionary impulses against Britain to today, progressive leaders and progressive movements have moved this country forward in the face of bitter-- and frequently violent-- opposition from reactionaries and defenders of the status quo. Consider the major advances in American history:

• The American Revolution
• The Bill of Rights and the forging of a democracy
• Universal white male suffrage
• Public education
• The emancipation of the slaves
• The national park system
• Food safety
• The breakup of monopolies
• The Homestead Act
• Land grant universities
• Rural electrification
• Women’s suffrage
• The abolition of child labor
• The eight hour workday
• The minimum wage
• Social Security
• Civil rights for minorities and women
• Voting rights for minorities and the poor
• Cleaning up our air, our water, and toxic dump sites
• Consumer product safety
• Medicare and Medicaid

Every single one of those reforms, which are literally the reforms that made this country what it is today, was accomplished by the progressive movement standing up to the fierce opposition of conservative reactionaries who were trying to preserve their own power. American history is one long argument between progressivism and conservatism.

The striking thing about this long debate is how much the arguments that have occurred are repetitive over time, in terms of their rhetoric, constituencies, philosophy, and the values they represent. From generation to generation, the conservatives who oppose reform and progress have used the same kinds of arguments over and over again.

Notice what Mike has right between the progressive vs. conservative battle to emancipate the slaves and the progressive vs. conservative battle to move towards guaranteeing food safety for consumers: the progressive vs. conservative battle to establish the great American national park system. Hard to believe but the conservatives fought against it like enraged animals-- well... not so hard to believe if you're watching what corrupt and sleazy Florida Congressman Cliff Stearns has been up to lately.

There have been (sick) jokes about how Greece should sell off some of their Aegean islands to German (and Wall Street) banksters to end the financial crisis the banksters have helped get them into. Ha-ha. Stearns says we should sell off some of our national parks to the same people. Watch the video above. "We don’t need more national parks in this country," the bribe-besoted criminal told a townhall meeting. "We need to actually sell off some of our national parks." Think Progress tells the whole sordid story.

Our national parks represent America’s heritage, held in trust from one generation to the next.

Despite Stearns’ idea for a national-park fire sale, the facts show that parks, monuments, and other protected places generate a steady stream of wealth for both the treasury and local businesses. In 2010, Florida’s Everglades National Park generated 2,364 jobs and over $140 million in visitor spending, and Florida’s 11 national parks in total provided $582 million in economic benefits. The National Park Service also reports that America’s parks overall created $31 billion and 258,000 jobs in 2010. In addition to their economic impacts, national parks have important value in that they are available to all of us for recreation, not just the wealthy few.

This is not the first time Republican members of Congress have advocated selling off Americans’ public lands without clarifying how taxpayers would get a fair return for them. Last fall, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) proposed selling off 3.3 million acres of the public lands that belong to all of us. And former Rep. Richard Pombo proposed selling national parks to mining companies in 2005.

So you have Cliff Stearns above with his perspective-- "We need to actually sell off some of our national parks"-- so let me contrast them with a few progressives with a different perspective:

"The establishment of the National Park Service is justified by considerations of good administration, of the value of natural beauty as a National asset, and of the effectiveness of outdoor life and recreation in the production of good citizenship." -President Theodore Roosevelt

"There is nothing so American as our national parks... The fundamental idea behind the parks... is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us." -President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst." -Pulitizer Prizing-winning author Wallace Stegner

"The parks do not belong to one state or to one section.... The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has a vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona."

"Who will gainsay that the parks contain the highest potentialities of national pride, national contentment, and national health? A visit inspires love of country; begets contentment; engenders pride of possession; contains the antidote for national restlessness.... He is a better citizen with a keener appreciation of the privilege of living here who has toured the national parks." -Stephen Mather, National Parks Service Director (1917-1929)

"The American way of life consists of something that goes greatly beyond the mere obtaining of the necessities of existence. If it means anything, it means that America presents to its citizens an opportunity to grow mentally and spiritually, as well as physically. The National Park System and the work of the National Park Service constitute one of the Federal Government's important contributions to that opportunity. Together they make it possible for all Americans--millions of them at first-hand--to enjoy unspoiled the great scenic places of the Nation... The National Park System also provides, through areas that are significant in history and prehistory, a physical as well as spiritual linking of present-day Americans with the past of their country." -Newton Drury, National Parks Service Director (1940-1951)

"As we Americans celebrate our diversity, so we must affirm our unity if we are to remain the 'one nation' to which we pledge allegiance. Such great national symbols and meccas as the Liberty Bell, the battlefields on which our independence was won and our union preserved, the Lincoln Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and numerous other treasures of our national park system belong to all of us, both legally and spiritually. These tangible evidences of our cultural and natural heritage help make us all Americans." -Edwin C. Bearss, NPS Chief Historian

"The parks are the Nation's pleasure grounds and the Nation's restoring places... The national parks... are an American idea; it is one thing we have that has not been imported." -J. Horace McFarland, president, American Civic Assn., 1916

Watch this preview from Ken Burns' PBS series, The National Parks: America's Best Idea and then think about these Republican freaks like Cliff Stearns who want to steal from all of us and sell the national parks off to help enrich their already TOO rich campaign contributors. Watch it, please...because the Republican Party plans to steal it from us. They really do.



UPDATE: I Don't Want To Give Anyone The Wrong Impression Of The Great State Of Florida

It's not all about beasts like Cliff Stearns. Nick Ruiz is a young father and an environmentalist-- he ran as a Green in 2010-- who is the Democratic Party challenger to whoever wins the vicious primary between clueless anti-environmental Republican John Mica and Sandy Adams. Nick was the first candidate Blue America endorsed this cycle-- and for good reason. He's the antidote to the Republican one-percent extremism that's turned their party topsy-turvy. He can really use some help with his 100% grassroots campaign. Earlier today I asked him for his views on Stearns outrageous proposition.

"Market fascists like Rep. Cliff Stearns, with their GOP TeaParty, obsessive-compulsive disorder of hyper-privatization, represent nothing short of a political sickness. Privatize parks? To what end? America today bears witness to a thoroughly deranged, GOP attempt to deconstruct American civilization as we have come to know it: No parks. No healthcare. No worker rights. No vacations. No collective bargaining rights. No right to choose. No equality.

What's next for the GOP? Cut wages? Oh, yes-- and during the Great Recession, amidst record unemployment and declining prosperity for the 99%-- the GOP proposes to cut wages in half, or rather, that's what the GOP tried to do here in the FL legislature in the 2012 session.

Until my last political breath, I will challenge this market fascist crusade to slaughter the liberal commonwealth of the United States of America. Our beautiful parks, lands and oceans deserve to be protected in the name of the people-- and that is exactly what I intend to do in Congress."