You’re getting a lot of the same comments in here, and I don’t feel like I need to add to the cacophony of voices decrying just how bad things have gotten (or, if you prefer, how bad they have always been and how they have only just now become more visible to us) so I thought I would chime in with one that still holds true today.

The United States has some of the best national parks in the world. If you are someone who enjoys nature and being in the great outdoors, whether that’s hiking, hunting, fishing, birdwatching, climbing, caving, exploring, etc. the experience you can get here really can’t be matched anywhere else in the world. We have the most diverse range of biomes anywhere on the planet - deserts, mountains, valleys, forests, badlands, swamps - you name it, we’ve got it and it’s probably contained in one of our many national parks scattered across the countryside - and the best part is that access is free for everybody.

Now, the big caveat, and one that kind of deflates this selling point quite a bit recently, is that a lot of the national park land and nature reserves are under threat right now by the Trump administration - there have been big moves by the executive to reclassify lots of federally protected land in order to expand oil drilling/fracking operations, as well as a push to force non-resident visitors to pay for entry, both of which are being fought tooth and nail by conservationists and environmental activists.

So, there’s something. We can debate on whether or not it’s a good thing to have national pride over things that we have little to no control over, but at the very least we can say we enjoy what we have now and take pride in the fact that our forebearers had the wisdom to use the law to protect the land and it’s precious resources and that we continue that effort into the modern era.