Some of the Many Necessary Services our Government Provides

Do you ever wonder why we have these government agencies?  

EPA – Years ago, I was on the Board of River Keepers, a non-profit in Fargo-Moorhead whose goal was to clean up the Red River of the North.  In the 1960s many thought the Red River was dying.  In April of 1968, a Canada and US Joint Commission issued a report entitled “Pollution of the Red River”.  The Red River was not alone.  Throughout the US citizens were increasingly concerned about air quality and unsafe drinking water due to pollution.  Pollution of public lands and water weighs as companies used them as dumping grounds for unsafe chemicals along with debris.  In 1970 President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency to protect the citizens of the US against the harms of pollution.  The EPA is not perfect, but it has done incredible working protecting our environment on behalf of US citizens.  

NOAA – Recently I saw a comment by a lady who said, “why do we need NOAA, we have the weather channel”.  She is a strong contender for the village idiot award on which I am working.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was also created by President Nixon in October of 1970 to protect life and property from natural hazards and develop a better understanding of the environment.  In part, it was a combination of existing federal agencies, The Survey of the Coasts formed in 1807, the Weather Bureau formed in 1870 and US Commission of Fish and Fisheries formed in 1871.  Given the increasing frequency and costs of natural disasters along with related environmental concerns, the US should double the NOAA budget.  Any cuts in NOAA’s budget or resources is beyond stupid. 

NPS – The National Park Service was created in 1916 to protect the then 35 National Parks and Monuments.  Its mandate states, “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein and…leave them for future generations”.  They and all public land belong to us, the public not any individual or private sector.  Again the NPS budget should increase, especially when on considers all the revenue they bring in to government coffers.  

DEA – The Department of Education was created in 1979.  In a sense it was continuation of the Founding Father’s commitment to public education.  The believed a well-educated population was a cornerstone to a long-term function democracy.  The DEA objectives include fostering educational excellence along with equal access to quality education.  The the majority of DEA expenditures go directly to states and local school systems supporting K-12 schools, special education programs, teacher training and low-income student support. The key to ours or any country’s future in today’s world is quality academic based education.  I suspect our Founding Fathers would be very disappointed in the current US position of backing away from public education.  

VA – In March, 1865 President Lincoln established a network of National facilities to care for wounded Civil War Veterans.  In 1930 there was a consolidation of Veterans benefits and services.  Today, over 9 Million veterans are served by the VHA.  Also, the VA is the largest employer of social workers.  Do you wonder why?  Because veterans who served our country have both emotional and physical challenges as a result of their service.  A country with any pride and dignity is increasing benefits for veterans, not cutting services so the very wealthy can have a tax cut.  

I could go on.  The USF&W, the USCPB, FEMA to name a few more.  For too many Americans all the above agencies and more are just part of the government and can be downsized or eliminated with no consequences.  ManyAmericans have forgotten or may not have known in the first place, these agencies were created by both Democrats and Republican to address a problem or fix a need.  Can they be improved, without a doubt.  And they should be improved to meet the challenges of today’s world.  But mindlessly reduced or eliminated as the Musk/Trump Administration is currently doing makes no sense or in other words, beyond stupid.  The reductions are in a large part to justify tax cuts to very wealthy which they neither need or deserve.

And for the record, the current Federal Deficit has little to do with these agencies and a whole lot to do with the ongoing Republican borrow and spend policy since the second Bush Administration when led by Republicans, the US initiated two wars and cut taxes.

I suspect the damage down but these reductions will have a negative impact on millions up millions of Americans, our publicly owned property and our future as a country for years to come.