It will make America great by allowing a democratic process occur when citizens who live near the Monument have something to say about whether it should be a Monument. The President is not a King making unilateral decisions. We're not a dictatorship.
It would be useful if you knew a bit more about the process in Utah than simply parroting the Utah GOP line. There has been 80 years of discussion and input about Bears Ears National Monument.
This is what some of the local citizens have to say about the work and effort. Oh, btw this is from indigenous newspaper/blog so I have no idea if it's democratic or republican but it is about the native lands by the natives...
Obama Designates Gold Butte and Bear Ears as National Monuments
In addition to protecting this sacred landscape and the region’s wildlife habitat and natural resources, today’s action establishes a Bears Ears Commission to ensure that management decisions reflect tribal expertise as well as traditional and historical knowledge. In recognition of the importance of tribal participation to the care and management of the monument, the Departments of Interior and Agriculture will engage with the Commission, which will help to inform management decisions by sharing traditional knowledge and providing recommendations.
There have been over 80 years of various efforts to protect the Bears Ears region, beginning with former Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes in 1936 and by Members of Congress, state, local and tribal leaders, and conservation groups in recent decades. Most recently the Hopi Nation, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah Ouray, and Zuni Tribe developed a proposal to protect the area, and U.S. Representatives Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz introduced the Public Lands Initiative, legislation that included a similar protection proposal for the Bears Ears landscape. Today’s action responds to both of these recent proposals, recognizing the areas where there is broad agreement about the need for protections, tribal engagement, and allowances for historical uses such as grazing. Today’s action also establishes a process for developing a management plan that will ensure robust opportunities for all interested stakeholders to provide input about how the monument should be managed.
What YOU aren't telling people is that the people who are most strenuously complaining are extraction companies and their minions who don't want to have to deal with the monument commission and the department of the interior. But all current oil & gas and mining leases are grandfathered in. And exploration isn't banned, it must just go under greater scrutiny.
As for the locals, the real locals not just the the local politicians have some optimism supporting the monument:
Shaun Chapoose, chairman of the Ute Business Committee: "President Obama has demonstrated today that our Native American heritage cannot be ignored. This national monument is the right solution at the right time, and we are pleased that the President has taken this step to ensure Bears Ears will remain in as pristine a condition as possible for generations to come.
"Our history and our future — our Ute identity — is inextricably tied to this place. The Bear Ears scared landscape sustains our way of life and our cultural practices. The President's National Monument designation protects not only traditional activities like collecting medicine and performing ceremonies, it protects this land from looting, indiscriminate off-road use and destructive mineral development."
Eric Descheenie, former co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and newly elected member of Arizona's House of Representatives: "It actually brought tears to my face. ... It's so significant. It's so hard to even try to add up what this really means. At the end of the day, there's only a certain place in this entire world, on earth, where we as indigenous peoples belong. And to be able to secure that, you can't put any money value on it."
Mark Maryboy, former San Juan County commissioner and retired Navajo Nation councilman: "This monument is for everybody. It belongs to everybody. Its land will be protected for our generation, and many more generations to come."
Carleton Bowekaty, Zuni councilman and Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition co-chair: "Today's announcement honors and elevates the voices of the Tribes," said "Thirty sovereign Tribal Nations passed resolutions in support of monument protection at Bears Ears, as did the National Congress of American Indians. Support for this monument has been overwhelming in Indian Country, and we thank President Obama for hearing our call for permanent protection of this living cultural landscape."
Cynthia Ann Kent, Chairwoman of the Native American International Caucus of the United Methodist Church: "The new National Monument is a victory for tribal leadership in preserving our heritage. How can you rebuild history, culture and tradition, when it is gone? By not taking care of this site, we lose our way of live and will only see it in pictures. Is that what we want to leave to the next generation, just pictures?"
David Filfred, Navajo Nation Council Delegate representing Aneth, Teec Nos Pos, Red Mesa and Mexican Water Chapters in Utah: "We are grateful for President Obama's brave action today," said David Filfred, Navajo Nation Council Delegate representing Aneth, Teec Nos Pos, Red Mesa and Mexican Water Chapters in Utah. "For the first time in history, a president has used the Antiquities Act to honor the request of Tribal Nations to protect our sacred sites. In doing so, he has given the opportunity for all Americans to come together and heal."
Alfred Lomahquahu, Vice Chairman of Hopi Tribe and Co-Chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition: "As a coalition of five sovereign Native American Tribes in the region, we are confident that today's announcement of collaborative management will protect a cultural landscape that we have known since time immemorial. Our connection with this land is deeply tied to our identities, traditional knowledge, histories, and cultures. We look forward to working with the current and future administrations to fully and properly administer these lands for all to enjoy."
Notice a trend here? Yes, the
real locals have been asking for protection for a long time and it was held up in partisan politics that had stalemated the legislation needed yo do this in Congress...and guess why? Because the Republicans on Congress while Obama was President didn't want to do anything that might possibly be a good idea that could work across party lines...Those same Utah GOP Representatives that are spearheading the attempts and overturning Bears Ears are the ones who kept any Congressional effort to get done under Obama because the GOP turned into the
Party of No which ironically ill prepared them to actually govern and pass laws while the GOP heals the House, Senate AND Presidency...
So, this is what the GOP is trying to do, undo everything Obama did? That's their reason for living?
