The propaganda...

Rita Garcia's talk

Robert's thoughts...

She tells us things like "The park belongs to the Americans".

It belonged perhaps to the Native Indians before, who made arrowheads from the silica, but it should now be preserved for everyone on the planet.

Having convinced the group that the park is like their own home, she deduces that one cannot forbid the owners to visit the park, even if it means a risk of people picking up bits of petrified wood: "In totalitarian states one could perhaps put fences along the paths to prevent people from picking up bits, but this is a democracy: by putting up fences we would punish all for the sins of a few."

This has nothing to do with democracy! Preserving the parks was done by visionaries, who often had a hard time to convince enough people, to sway Congress or get support from the President.

In fact the existence of the National Parks is a defeat of the simple democratic process which would likely have resulted in commercial exploitation. See what happened to the sequoias...

Lots of people from the conservative US South in our group, one wearing a "God bless America" shirt.

The Crystal Forest panel says:

"Thoughtless visitors have removed most of the crystals that gave Crystal Forest its name. Please save what's left for future visitors, and report any theft or vandalism to park staff."