Loyalty Oaths

Under one of the least-known presidents, Chester Arthur, Congress instituted in the wake of James A. Garfield's death one of the best changes in the U.S. gummint we've had: civil service. The Pendleton Act of 1883 set the tone for civil service since. It took a while though; in the wake of the spoils system (which crescendoed in the Andrew Jackson administration and continued through to Grant and beyond), it was years before reformers could push for widespread change, which was possible thanks to the corruption, cronyism, and scandals of the Grant administration (given the recent nomination of Miers, among other things, the current Smirk administration is giving ol' Ulysses S. a run for his money). Under Hayes and then Arthur, changes were made and civil service as we know it today was given a mighty push. Sadly, Garfield's assassination by a disappointed jobseeker just accelerated the calls for improved civil service.

We seem to be going backwards these days, especially now that promotions in the U.S. Park Service, which ideally should be beyond political considerations, now seems to be less based on a meritocracy and more on essentially loyalty oaths (I'm sure you right-wingers will deny this heatedly, but things like this just remind me more and more of Nazi Germany; we definitely have a form of statist religion, that's for sure) based solely on politics. If you don't hew to what Smirk and Scowl want to do to the Park Service (i.e., destroy it), then you don't advance. Smirk and Scowl want to outsource workers, rely on faith-based initiatives for the Park Service, and institute changes like altering film of protests and demonstrations at the Lincoln Memorial, or permitting books to be sold at the Grand Canyon that state that the Grand Canyon was formed by Noah's Flood. This is an outrage that makes me furious; the US Park Service is there to serve the nation, not Smirk, Scowl, or any political hack, whether in Congress, the White House, or Foggy Bottom. For an article on this, see here.

The Park Service is a non-partisan agency that protects, preserves, and maintains National Parks, National Historical Sites, and the like. This is just yet another attempt by the radicals on the right, whether religious crazies or just plain crazy, to rewrite our historical, cultural, and natural history according to their lights. Not to mention making sure that "their people" are in place so that the damage can continue after they're out of office. Rather than allowing civil service to perform as it should and the Park Service to act as neutral stewards on the nation's behalf, instead some of what is best about our country is being twisted and corrupted. It's enough to get me frothing at the mouth... GRRRRRR....