A well-known bureaucratic response to any attempt to reduce government spending is called, “The Washington Monument Strategy.” Whenever somebody suggests cutting the budget, just shut down the Washington Monument until enough tourists complain to their congressman.

We saw this strategy implemented with a vengeance during the government shutdown under Obama. All reservations at the national parks were cancelled, vendors ordered to close, perishable deliveries turned back, the National Mall cordoned off, gates to the national parks chained, and even highway turnouts with a view of Yosemite Valley barricaded.

Compare that to the government shutdown in the first Trump administration. Vendors remained in business, the public lands remained fully accessible to the public, no monuments were obstructed, no barricades were erected and the gates to the national parks remained open.

Today, opponents of President Trump’s war on government waste have revived the Washington Monument strategy to maintain a bloated federal workforce that is crushing American taxpayers. Every dollar of discretionary spending, which fully or partially funds every department within the federal government, is now borrowed.  Instead of long-overdue streamlining, Democrats are pushing for a tax increase that will amount to about $1,500 on a family earning $75,000.

At Yosemite National Park, disgruntled employees hung a giant American flag upside down on El Capitan the other day, ruining the view for tourists who came to enjoy Yosemite’s famous fire-fall. Remote cameras at the park are now blocked by protest signs. A Yosemite biologist told gullible reporters the staff cuts could doom the Sierra Nevada Red Fox to extinction.  Others warned that layoffs would result in visitors stuck in restrooms and fires raging out of control. “Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria,” as a Ghostbusters character put it.

So, what is the actual number of layoffs at Yosemite National Park that will bring this beautiful Valley to rack and ruin?  Ten probationary employees. Ten out of nearly 500 full-time winter employees. Twenty-five if you include early retirements. And no firefighters.

This begs other important questions:

• Is the park so poorly managed that only one employee has keys to restrooms serving the 748,000-acre national park?  Apparently.

• How will the Sierra Nevada Red Fox survive with only eight biologists at Yosemite looking out for it rather than nine? I guess we’ll just have to find out.

• How many of Yosemite’s employees are working from home? We don’t know, because the park management won’t tell us. We do know that in 2023, 34 percent of National Park Service employees across the country were still “working” from home. Need to find the nearest unlocked restroom? Just e-mail them.

Indeed, the employees who provide most of the visitor amenities – the hotels, the shops, the restaurants — don’t even work for the Park Service. They work for the park’s private concessionaire.

It’s true that hiring seasonal employees was delayed for a few weeks when the administration put a temporary hold on new hires – but that hold was soon lifted and these positions will actually increase by about 50.  

More than a decade ago, when I first met with park management, I noticed a placard in the conference room.  It read: “Is it good for the park?” I suggested that was the wrong question. The right question is, “Is it good for the park’s visitors?” It’s a matter of attitude.

The Yosemite Valley Grant Act of 1864 was the first time land was set aside for the “use, resort and recreation” of the American people.  It says nothing about the park’s employees. They work for the people, who in turn have selected Donald Trump to exercise the executive powers of the government and charged him to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” He can’t do that if he can’t open the books, look where the money is spent, determine whether it is being spent efficiently and in accordance with law, and stop it when it isn’t.        

The antics of some of Yosemite’s employees dishonor the silent majority at the Park who are genuinely devoted to public service. As Hamilton said, “Here, sir, the People govern.” All 2.4 million employees in the federal workforce exercise powers delegated by the president through our Constitution by virtue of his election. Any federal employee who doesn’t respect the authority of the people — and the president they elected — has no business working for them.

—  Congressman Tom McClintock represents California’s 5th Congressional District, including Hughson and parts of eastern Stanislaus County.