There’s never been any doubt. America is beautiful.
Beautiful, for spacious skies. “For amber waves of grain. For purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plane…”
I learned the song, as a kid. But I was never sure what they meant by “the fruited plane”. Maybe an airplane carrying oranges from Florida?
I later found out it was, “the fruited plain”. I’m still not entire sure what that means.
But America has never been quite as beautiful as the image featured on the new 2026 National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.
Has America ever had two more beautiful leaders?
I sort of wish they were smiling, but I understand Washington had ill-fitting wooden false teeth and didn’t smile much. So no complaint from me. I get it: being President is a serious business. And that’s beautiful.
But there’s still a group of people complaining about this new Parks Pass.
Last week, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that alleges the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture violated the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which requires department officials to feature an image on the annual pass chosen from a public photo contest.
We have to admit, the image that currently appears on the 2026 Parks Pass doesn’t look like it was chosen from a public photo contest, unless you consider the mug shot of then-former-President Trump taken in August 2023 at the Fulton County Jail to be part of a public photo contest.
The 16-page complaint from the Center for Biological Diversity claims that the Trump administration has replaced a contest-winning photo of Montana’s Glacier National Park on the annual pass — commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States — with a graphic featuring Washington and Trump.
One would think that the Center expects the Trump administration to actually follow the law. Obviously, ‘following the law’ went out of style way back in January.
But I’m not sure what kind of “biological diversity” these people want to celebrate. I think the current version with the image of two outstanding Presidents illustrates biological diversity every bit as well as a contest photo of Glacier National Park.
Besides, the photo of Glacier National Park will still be featured on the administration’s newly created, more expensive non-resident pass, according to the lawsuit.
The America the Beautiful annual pass is $80 for U.S. residents and provides entry to every national park and special fee areas of national forests, wildlife refuges and other national lands. That seems like a reasonable price, for the privilege of carrying a real full-color photo of two Presidents in my wallet.
The newly created ‘non-resident’ annual pass is priced at $250. Foreigners without the Pass will face a $100 entrance fee at 11 popular parks. This fee structure is part of a new initiative to ensure that international visitors contribute to the maintenance of U.S. parks. As they should.
This is simply additional proof that it’s better to be American.
A beautiful American living in America the Beautiful.
But some people just have to complain about everything.
In a statement, the Center’s Executive Director Kierán Suckling said, “Blotting out the majesty of America’s national parks with a closeup of his own face is Trump’s crassest, most ego-driven action yet.”
How anyone can define this as the crassest, most ego-driven action yet, I cannot understand. When there are so many other choices.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.