I’m so very glad that our tax dollars are being put to such noble use— especially in beautifying our nation. A perfect recent example of this totally cost-effective use of time and resources is the deployment of over 2,200 National Guard troops to D.C. After they heroically battled the legendary massive crime wave emergency in Washington D.C., idle troops were then reassigned to the truly urgent task of trash removal and groundskeeping in parks around the city.
Support For NPS in Survival Mode
The National Parks Service is likely happy about military troops briefly taking over their DC beautification duties. While it is their job to beautify DC-NPS has had their city work force decimated during recent DOGE personnel cuts- dropping their 200 city employees down to 20. So the National Guard’s arrival is quite timely for them. After all, the Guard service members are indeed specially trained for sanitation and groundskeeping- they are most often deployed for disaster response to help communities recover from wildfires, floods, or storm damages. Let’s hope that the National Guard will be available when the next hurricane devastates some coastal state- assuming they won’t be too busy with their critical mission of combatting weeds, sorry, crime…in DC.
A Million a Day- Worth Every Mulch
Estimates for the cost of President Trump’s recent emergency military deployment to DC are around 1 million a day in taxpayer revenue, to go for at least 30 days (unless renewed by Congress). This means there’s some pretty pricey “landscaping” going on. National Guard troops are prohibited from performing domestic law enforcement, and are primarily in a deterrence role- yet much of their activity has apparently been groundskeeping rather than crime fighting. Civilian employees doing the same groundskeeping work would be much less costly. Plus consider that the $30 million spent on a 30 day deployment could instead fund 200-300 actual police officers for a whole year in DC- a far wiser longer-term investment in the DC community’s public security.
Spread That Mulch
US tax dollars should be spent on sensible crime reduction strategies that actually work— not flashy $30 million photo ops of uniformed National Guard troops on DC streets. Imagine what 30 million dollars could do if it was spent on actual crime prevention- more officers, better equipment, targeted strategies- with real results towards reducing crime, and not just spectacle. In the meantime, until priorities shift, the National Guard will soldier on, combatting weeds, and spreading mulch around DC’s cherry trees- all thanks to President Trump.
