Paint cannot touch it, and words are wasted.
Frederick Remington

Electing a progressive president is no guaranty of revolutionary change. Our leaders are often motivated by noble ideals yet constrained by conservative paradigms, designed to maintain the status quo in the absence of national crisis. If it ain't broke don't fix it! It took a combination of World War 2 and the Great Depression for Roosevelt to pull off the New Deal, and the assasination of Kennedy to enact his programs of Civil Rights and Medicare. What Clinton showed us, however, is that even in times of peace and prosperity a progressive president can accomplish much to enhance the national well-being.

As an example the League of Conservation Voters rated Bill Clinton's environmental record as one of the best of any president. He appointed genuine environmentalists to head the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior. And, as mentioned earlier, his Vice President was one of the more eloquent spokespersons for the environment of the late 20th century.

Clinton's most visible achievement was to protect large parcels of land from exploitation. He used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare millions of acres of federal land as National Monuments, and therefore off-limits to development or extraction (drilling, mining, and logging). These areas included Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante, Arizona's Grand Canyon-Parashant, and California's Pinnacles. By doing so Clinton used the act to protect more land from human plunder than did Teddy Roosevelt, the "father of conservation" in this country.

During his tenure Clinton also used his executive power to declare nearly one-third of national forest land off-limits to road building, logging, ranching, and drilling. This lent protection to a whopping 58 million acres in 39 states, and included the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, which was well on its way to being clear-cut of magnificent old-growth to feed Japan's insatiable appetite for timber.

These represent significant achievements and assure that Clinton, along with Carter and Roosevelt, will be long remembered for preserving America's scenic landscapes and wild places. It was a great way to close out the Century of Conservation!

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Paint cannot touch it, and words are wasted. Frederick Remington Electing a progressive president is no guaranty of revolutionary change. Our leaders are often motivated by noble ideals yet constrained by conservative paradigms, designed to maintain the status quo in the absence of national crisis. If it ain't broke don't fix it! It took a combination of World War 2 and the Great Depression for Roosevelt to pull off the New Deal, and the assasination of Kennedy to enact his programs of Civil Rights and Medicare. What Clinton showed us, however, is that even in times of peace and prosperity a progressive president can accomplish much to enhance the national well-being. As an example the League of Conservation Voters rated Bill Clinton's environmental record as one of the best of any president. He appointed genuine environmentalists to head the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior. And, as mentioned earlier, his Vice President was one of the more eloquent spokespersons for the environment of the late 20th century. Clinton's most visible achievement was to protect large parcels of land from exploitation. He used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare millions of acres of federal land as National Monuments, and therefore off-limits to development or extraction (drilling, mining, and logging). These areas included Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante, Arizona's Grand Canyon-Parashant, and California's Pinnacles. By doing so Clinton used the act to protect more land from human plunder than did Teddy Roosevelt, the "father of conservation" in this country. During his tenure Clinton also used his executive power to declare nearly one-third of national forest land off-limits to road building, logging, ranching, and drilling. This lent protection to a whopping 58 million acres in 39 states, and included the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, which was well on its way to being clear-cut of magnificent old-growth to feed Japan's insatiable appetite for timber. These represent significant achievements and assure that Clinton, along with Carter and Roosevelt, will be long remembered for preserving America's scenic landscapes and wild places. It was a great way to close out the Century of Conservation!

© Danny Kimberlin 2015