I stumbled upon this article from MSN. The headline reads: "Nearly all members of National Park Service advisory panel resign in frustration." I, of course, noting the article was from a leftist source and had something to do with Trump and his surely dastardly administration, assumed it was going to be a typical fear-mongering, Trump-hating, SJW "We're all gonna die!" tripe.
Being the pessimistic optimist I am and with the recent news Trump's Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had recently reversed some of his decisions about off-shore drilling (which I was rather glad he did), I decided I'd best read the article.
I am also aware of the reality that in many cases, bureaucracy exists for the sake of bureaucracy. Consider, for instance, how likely it is any employee would ever make an argument to their employer that the employee is unnecessary. If it ever happens, it won't be on a large scale. Few people intentionally talk themselves out of a job.
The article begins with the plight of the National Park Service advisory panel. The details are stunning. Why, the certainly soulless Zinke "refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year." It gets worse... Then we learn "[t]he resignation of nine out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks"! Alright, that's a thing, but... people, we are far from talking about lives on the line. I mean only that perspective matters.
We are then graciously informed by MSN such behavior "...underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the Trump administration." Well... maybe, but isn't that all of one example? That's like saying your kid is definitely going to become the worst of criminals because he was okay with stealing a candy bar at age five.
Oh... but there is more. And the details are juicy to say the least. It seems Zinke once "suspended all outside committees "! Is this guy outta control or what?!? Revolt! Rebel! The possible designation of national or historic or natural landmarks is in peril! Hold on, what's this? He suspended them "while his staff reviewed their composition and work." Well, that actually could be useful. I would think if you're going to run an organization, it would help to fully know what they're about and do.
We learn also former governor of Alaska Tony Knowles, the board chairman who decided to bounce in, I guess, outrage, wrote a stinging letter to Zinke stating: "...our requests to engage have been ignored and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are clearly not part of its agenda." The letter was signed by eight other frustrated board members all of which were conceivably on their way out anyway (their terms were set to expire in May).
It seems a little late to say this, but to make a long story short, to the discerning reader, what the article basically does is give you the leftist (MSN's target audience) angle but by reporting simply the truth (the Trump/Zinke angle), causes them to produce, as Rush Limbaugh says, "random acts of journalism". For practically every intended shocking nugget, there follows a rather reasonable explanation for why. Reasonable if one is willing to be informed and critical as opposed to simply outraged.
I say that last bit because I believe it to be true a certain side of the current dominant political ideologies in America is far less interested in truth than emotion but also because of the title of this writing. I stopped reading article when I reached this line: "Two of the Bureau of Land Management's 38 resource advisory councils..." Two of only the BLM's thirty-freaking-eight advisory councils!! A single agency has thirty-eight advisory councils?!? To be a "council" you obviously need more than one person. Who even knows how many people are on these councils. Maybe some of the people on some of these councils works for free, but I doubt it's many.
So, yes, one government agency feels it cannot possibly be effective without thirty-eight councils to advise it. That's not encouraging to me. Then I consider that if that one agency has such an insanely high number of advisory councils, what about the other hundreds of government agencies? Why would not they also have as many advisory councils as possible? What incentive do they have to not expand their size and income? Yes, I am italicizing these words for emphasis. On the one hand, there is the sheer number of "advisers". On the other there is the fact these people simply advise. Are they not also the workers on the ground? Not to say they aren't necessary, but shouldn't it be at least desirable to determine they are?
My point is this: It may be true Zinke isn't doing everything completely right or desirable, but it is also true no one is going to talk themselves out of a job (especially not a cushy one). Instead, that person is going to droll on about how necessary their work and thus they are. So, when I hear that a bunch of dudes quit because they feel they aren't being heard and then learn the guy not doing the listening may just be deciding if they need to keep getting paid, I'm not so quick to feel tremendous sympathy for them and automatically demonize their boss.
UPDATE! One day after making this post, I happened to catch former governor of Alaska and former board chairman of the National Park Service advisory panel, Tony Knowles, on NPR discussing the dire situation with Trump. When asked essentially why his team is important his response was that they have made a lot of progress in (let the suspense build for the totally shocking and not at all predictable answer...) "climate change" and "education". Remember, now, the purpose of the National Park Service advisory panel (according to the very article which brings us here) is to ..."designate national historic or natural landmarks". Sure. I can see how "climate change" and some unspecified claim of "education" might have a bearing on designating stuff.
Like I said: "bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy." From what I can tell, these jackasses just want to keep the money flowing to them for a cake job.
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