{"id":2302,"date":"2017-12-05T16:27:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T21:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=2302"},"modified":"2017-12-05T16:27:32","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T21:27:32","slug":"national-monuments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/05\/national-monuments\/","title":{"rendered":"National Monuments"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You may or may not know that President Trump has slashed two National Monuments. Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument was cut in size by half and more than 1 million acres removed from Bears Ears Monument. With a stroke of his pen the President has allowed political interests to win over the environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wikipedia<\/span><\/a> says that “A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a United States National Park, but can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Per the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, \u201cPresident Clinton tried to end a long-running political battle over the future of 1.9 million acres of federal land in southern Utah by creating the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Last year, President Obama<\/a> took a similar step and created the nearly 1.4-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Both designations protected vast swaths of public land from mining and other industrial uses, and offered extra safeguards for natural habitats and pre-Columbian Native American sites. But on Monday, President Trump<\/a> eviscerated both federal designations, proving once again that, to this president, the federal government\u2019s promises to its own people mean nothing. The president\u2019s decision \u2014 which amounts to the largest elimination of protected area in American history \u2014 senselessly imperils stunningly beautiful natural areas and geological masterworks, as well as tens of thousands of Native American sacred sites and key wildlife habitats.<\/i>\u201d Trump is showing the world that business comes before the environment and this is just plain wrong on so many different levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

These actions are more than likely going to hurt the Republicans in the upcoming mid-term elections next year. And with the all the suits being amassed against cutting down the size of the National Monuments so that big business can ravage the land; things are going to get very hot, very fast.<\/span><\/p>\n

I see that the Republicans are moving very fast on many fronts at once for they seem to realize that they soon will lose control of Congress. They and Trump are not doing things in a way that is at all palatable to anyone. If the President and the rest of his cohorts would try to pace themselves and see the way things are and what needs to be done to make the US economy hum without harming the environment or the working class, then they might be able to stir up more support than what the little they now have.<\/span><\/p>\n

Big business is not what drives our economy, it is the thousands of small businesses that do! Both the Republicans and the Democrats need to realize this. And by doing so our country will be better for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n