Imagine this: Your airline is running
behind. You need to connect with your next flight. No one else seems to be in a
hurry, but you finally weave through the masses.
And
when you get to the gate, your flight has already lifted off.
You
can pitch a hissy fit. You can even cuss enough to punch your ticket to Hell.
But
guess what?
The
plane is not coming back.
That’s
how a reported 74,618,829 American voters felt stranded on Nov. 5. But kicking
and screaming won’t change the election results. Our 45th president collected a
decisive 312 electoral-college votes, and Donald Trump is soon to become the 47th
president to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
People
asked, “Who was your candidate, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?”
My
answer was neither. I thought the extremism of both parties was, well,
too extreme if we are ever going to unite America again.
Before
President Joe Biden stepped aside from his re-election campaign, I was among voters
who were tired of the hate-filled squabbles. I wondered why the Democrats and
the Republicans don’t reboot. Give us some refreshing new candidates.
That
thought got left at the gate, too, but am I going to pitch a hissy fit?
Not
hardly.
Frequent
Trump ads urged us to vote for policy versus personality. Nothing any of us can
say or do will alter Donald J. Trump’s personality.
So,
how about his policies?
I
am not an expert on every detail of every anticipated policy change, but let’s
consider just one—the environment. In 2016 his initial pick for chief of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was an oil-industry lobbyist. And in 2024
he campaigned on “drill-baby-drill.”
Nonetheless,
in a statement, Trump has vowed that his nominated EPA administrator, Lee
Zeldin, “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be
enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same
time maintaining the highest standards, including the cleanest air and water on
the planet.”
Therefore, we should ask, “Will that pledge be forgotten as the new administration follows through on its promise of big-time rollbacks of EPA regulations?”
There’s
an African proverb which professes that if you want to run fast, run alone. If
you want to run far, run together. For the Red, the White and the Blue that
flaps on American flagpoles, I chose far over fast.
And
I chose common sense for stewardship of our natural resources. If we turn
polluters loose, they will run fast to make all the money they can while
the “getting is good.” Already, I can hear the cocktail glasses clinking, as
they celebrate anticipated rollbacks. Quests for more profits will likely overpower
what’s smart for our nation’s environmental future.
Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren—yours
and mine—will wonder, “What were they thinking?” I can answer that. They
weren’t thinking about the dangerous and expensive consequences of greed over
what is safe. Americans expect the EPA to protect them and their natural
resources.
Imagine
how much dirtier our air and water would be if state and federal agencies
weren’t saying to greed-obsessed polluters, “You can’t do that.” Every American family—Republican,
as well as Democrat and Independent—deserves water and air that isn’t poisoned.
Whether you voted for him or not,
President-elect Trump’s jet—loaded with his policy makers—has taken off. Forget
hissy fits. Instead, if you value responsible stewardship of our nation’s
natural resources, here’s what you can do:
§ Don’t silently sit on your hands.
§ Catch “another plane” to D.C.
§ Write a letter, lots of letters.
§ Make your voice heard.
Remind Washington that the water we
drink and the air which we breathe are promised to be the “cleanest on the
planet.”
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
