As good liberals and America's actual patriots, I'm sure that anyone reading this has by now seen, or at least heard of, Ken (...head rolls back, begins snoring) BURNS! KEN BURNS' documentary "National Parks." Don't get me wrong. I am a huge fan of Ken Burns, even though some of his stuff is a little, shall we say dry? Anyway, if you haven't seen it, check it out- it's very good:
But I got this idea last time I was in a National Park... follow me below the orange scribble of "hey why don't we do this all ready" for more.
And here it is.
I was recently at Joshua Tree National Park here in Southern California (pretty cool, you should go) and in their gift shop was your typical array of cheesy trinkets and souvenirs. Well, being a good consumer, I began inspecting the tags on all the T shirts and key chains, etc. I could get my hands on.
MADE IN CHINA
Can we not do that? These are our National Parks. If we can demand that everything the Pentagon buys be made in the USA, can we not demand that everything sold at one of our country's National Parks also be made here? They are, after all NATIONAL Parks. Can we keep it that way? I'm pretty sure that Americans can make collectible spoons, shot glasses, baseball caps, postcards, pocket knives, tarantulas under glass and hooded sweatshirts just as well (if not better) than the Chinese can.
Look, everything in a National Park gift shop is so overpriced as it is, if we made all that stuff here, we could just keep the prices the same, but subsidize American employers and maybe create some jobs along the way. What say you, citizens?