National Parks to Seek Corporate Sponsorships

"In a quiet but far-reaching change, the National Park Service is poised to adopt a new policy of aggressively seeking corporate sponsorship of park projects and facilities. In return for financial sponsorships, the plan will give corporate donors naming rights, use of National Park symbols and personnel in advertising and much greater influence over park managers, according to public comments filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)."

Beyond the obvious problems that will arise from such a plan, the fact that they've even considered it, raises questions in my mind as to why they should need it.

The government always seems to find the money they need for their overseas shinanigans, most of which have no direct benefit to the American public. Individual members of the Legislature always seem to get the money they need for pork-barrel pet projects for their home states, just to win votes. They apparently feel that our government can afford to lose billions annually in tax revenue, that they give ever-increasing tax breaks, as well as providing tax loopholes to the wealthy and their corporations. And lets not forget they never fail to vote themselves pay raises.

They just don't see a value in properly funding our National Parks. Seems whenever there's a need for maintaining or increasing federal funding to projects that are of value to the average American, they can't seem to locate any. They're so busy spending billions per day trying to influence and meddle in the affairs of other countries that our own can't even support itself. I'm not an Isolationist, but we should not be relegating to second-place, all the basic functions of our government, in favor of political prestige-building activities abroad. Not to mention all the money we spend conducting operations to make the world safe for the same American corporations that get all those tax breaks. Not one penny should leave our shores unless the needs and desires of the American people are satisfied first.