Doing The Job In Reverse

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, an important executive cabinet agency of which the president is perhaps faintly familiar, has lost a significant number of its employees, especially members of its advisory council, whose job it is to render advice unto the Secretary of the Interior. One third, and counting, of its members have resigned en masse, their stated reason being that they have not been consulted since they took office, and that the secretary of the interior himself, Ryan Zinke, ignores them, and ignores their advice when they convey it, which is always unsolicited. One can hardly blame them. People need an identity, a community, and a purpose. The Department of the Interior, and thus its leader, is charged with protecting America's public lands, and managing them. The current interior department has taken upon itself the task of selling off public lands into private hands, and reducing the acreage allotted to national monuments, which is directly inimical to the reason for its existence. This is in keeping with the make up of the Trump cabinet. The Secretary of Education does not support public education, preferring to offer vouchers for private schooling, and to use public money to support private schools. The director of the EPA has shown no interest in protecting the environment, instead encouraging the elimination of regulations which serve to protect it. The Department of Energy is headed by people who want to "bring back coal" rather than move forward with sustainable energy strategies. The State Department is undermanned, and is engaged in no discernable diplomacy. We don't even have an ambassador to south Korea. The list goes on. Mr. Zinke seems to believe that huge tracts of land are better protected with private ownership, and made available for mineral extraction. The wolves, in short, are inhabiting the hen house.