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So, this last weekend, I was up visiting my in-laws, and we got nailed with something they call a “bomb cyclone.”[1] It was a big two-day snowstorm that dropped about two feet of snow where I was and blew it all over hell. We’re talking 6–8 foot drifts.I have a Subaru Outback, which I was able to buy with a Good Son Discount from my parents and I’m very appreciative of that. It’s a very nice car, and it can go through just about anything with the excellent ground clearance and all-wheel drive. It’s very safe, and since I now have a kid, that’s why my folks were willing to sell it to me.My in-laws live well off the beaten path, off of a minimum maintenance road that doesn’t get plowed by the county. They hire a guy, but he often doesn’t come for days or sometimes even weeks. So, my father-in-law has a plow on his truck and has to plow out the road himself much of the time.We waited until Duluth was downgraded from “ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE” to at least “snow covered roads; travel not advised,” and my father-in-law had plowed out the road to at least the main county road (about 8 miles away,) which had been plowed by the county, before we left.And we made it home. It was a little hairy at times, but we made it home, and because of that, I didn’t have to take an extra vacation day from work over it.My Subaru can and did make it through some pretty nasty stuff, but really, we made it home because of the snowplows clearing away enough that we could do the rest on our own.Without those plows, we would have gotten stuck. I have the utmost faith in the Subie (and my wife will tell you that I have probably too much faith in the Subie), but I wouldn’t have even attempted it without the plows.At least in the United States, yes, life is much easier if you’re a white person, because essentially, white people are driving behind a large social snowplow that non-white people often do not get to drive behind.I’m sure I’m about to get a giant pile of US white people who will comment about handouts and affirmative action and “well, I’m poor and I know a lot of white people who are and it sure as hell doesn’t feel easier to me!”And that’s true. All of that is true. That road might still be pretty shitty, and you might have done a lot of work to get where you are.Listen. I probably look like the model of the self-made man. I worked hard, got an education, and now I’m doing my best to make something of myself. I’ve worked plenty of hard, manual, “dirty” jobs, and I’ve worked my way up to where the health problems I have mostly stem from a profoundly flattened ass.I’m also a lily-white heterosexual Christian Midwestern dude from a moderately middle-class family who came over on the boat when land was ultra-cheap.My success in life is partly due to hard work, and partly due to the fact that I won the birthright jackpot.There are at least two things that are solely due to the melanin content of my skin and family history that have massively greased the skids for me compared to similarly situated people who are not white: generational accumulated opportunity, and structural privilege.These two things are like a snowplow. They cleared a path for me, and people like me, particularly people who look like me, to more easily succeed.Generational Accumulated OpportunityBuy land. They ain’t makin’ any more of the stuff. - Will RogersOver Thanksgiving, I got in a stupid political argument with a family member, as you do when you live where the air hurts your face and you’re sitting in a blizzard warning watching multiple feet of snow whipping around outside.While we were arguing about deregulation and unrestrained, unbridled capitalism, I pointed out that we had that at one point, and conditions were bad enough that it led to a number of constitutional amendments and the Progressive Era to correct for the Gilded Age and the robber barons. There were a lot of people who didn’t think it was as great a time to be alive as John D. Rockefeller did.He brought up something that I’m guessing Ben Shapiro must be saying lately because I’ve been seeing it pop up a lot in recent weeks: “Well, if the Gilded Age was so bad, why did so many people immigrate here at that point in history?”That answer is, in good part, cheap or even free land.When my folks came over from Germany during the Gilded Age, they got land in Wisconsin for less than a dollar an acre. Even adjusted for inflation, my family was able to buy upwards of a half a square mile of land for less than $5,000 in today’s money. (That same land is well over $5,000 an acre today.) At other points in history, you could get 40, 80, even 160 acres of land from the Federal government for the price of “pack a wagon, go there, and work it up.”[2] A lot of land was granted to timber companies and railroads, who in turn sold it cheaply to new immigrants for a profit to them.[3]Understand that land in Europe was virtually impossible to get your hands on. People didn’t own real property, for the most part. To own 40, 80, 160 acres would have been wealth beyond the dreams of most people.Understand the history of just English property law.[4] Basically, the king owned everything, and doled out tracts of that to the aristocracy, who in turn might dole out some of that to other aristocracy or gentry. Most people lived on someone else’s land and either paid rent or worked for the aristocracy or gentry. Other European nation-states were similar.Whatever the local law was, one thing was certain: Owning land meant income.Let me repeat that: owning land meant income.When you read those old English novels by Austen and Bronte, and it seems like nobody really had a job, that’s why: they were living on the income generated by the land they owned and the people living on it.Even when real property law in European/Western nation-states evolved and individuals really owned the land more than just the local monarch, there was the problem of a lack of frontier. There was a limited supply, and it was already owned by people. Nobody was making more of the stuff.Until some people trying to go find a better trade route bumped into a whole new chunk of it that they’d previously been unaware of.And since the folks who already owned and occupied that land weren’t white or European or Christian, the people who were white and European and Christian kind of looked the other way whilst other white, European Christians cleared the folks from that land and then those other white, European Christians all looked at each other and went, “Whaaaaaaat?! A whole continent that doesn’t have anyone on it?! SWEET!”It’s ours, boys! Ours for the taking! Manifest destiny! WOOOOO!Jon Stewart pointed this out very well, this problem that the United States has always had an entitlement mentality, in The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium back in 2012, a debate with Bill O’Reilly:We are an entitlement nation. We were born that way. We’re a country [of people] who came to another country with people already on it and went, “Yeah, I think we’ll have that. That’ll be nice.”But it wasn’t just that we wanted to come here, take resources, and leave. People wanted the land.It was well worth it to sell everything you owned, hop on a boat, and come here for that. The entry cost was essentially nothing. The requirements were (a) be alive when you get here, (b) don’t have any readily apparent communicable diseases, and at various times (c) don’t be Chinese or Asian-enough to be thought of as Chinese, a Japanese businessman or professional, black (whether free or slave - didn’t matter, you couldn’t vote, own property, etc.), Hispanic or Hispanic looking when we were at war with Spain or various Spanish-descended colonies or nations, or over the quotas for nations established in the 1920’s. This didn’t really change much until the 1950’s. For a solid 150 years of the nation’s history, this was pretty much how it was.The restrictions that did exist around immigration very much favored white people. And once you got here and got in, even if you weren’t white, it was easier for you to get that land if you were white. (I’ll get to that in a bit).What’s that? You there? What does that have to do with why it’s easier to be a white person today, you ask? Be patient. I’m getting there.Here’s the thing about land. Once you’ve got land, you’ve also got a lot of things that go with land.In the law, we talk about owning real property as having a “bundle of sticks.” [5] Those sticks are various rights associated with land ownership. There’s rights to alienate (sell), exploit (mineral rights, water rights, timber rights, crop rights, etc.), to improve, to occupy, and more. You can transfer those rights, in whole or in part, for a set length of time or forever.That makes it a huge asset to leverage. Land is great collateral. It’s (generally) never going down in price, it’s usually stable and not likely to go anywhere like personal property, and the chain of custody and title is usually pretty easily traceable. Who has what rights in real property is usually a matter of public record or well-recorded.It used to be that land was also essential for voting rights. If you didn’t own land, you didn’t have the right to vote. Even after that changed, land ownership still had a significant amount of voting power to it, and still does today. I laugh a little when I hear folks say that land doesn’t vote, people do, because that’s about half true. Because we have geographical representation, folks who own a lot of land also have a lot of influence in local politics, and as any congressional veteran will tell you: all politics are local.On top of that, land can be inherited. It can be passed down generationally. Even if it’s not income-generating land, it’s a huge expenditure that’s saved from occupying someone else’s land as a tenant. That means that income and wealth could be used to leverage other opportunities: education, the purchase of more land, and so forth.If your parents are more highly educated and wealthy, that vastly increases the chances that you will be highly educated and wealthy, because that status provides more networking with other people who can provide opportunity.Think about Sam Walton’s children, for example. Walton paved the way for them, not just with direct wealth transfer to them, but because they grew up knowing a lot of the right people. They could go to private schools, with the kids of other connected people. They made friendships. Later in life, they could leverage those friendships and connections for things like getting on the boards of profitable companies, which pay them a lot of money.Even if Walton put every penny he ever got from Wal-Mart into a charitable trust and his kids never saw a dime directly, it was the opportunities generated simply because that wealth existed that gave them their wealth.So, even if your parents were rich and never passed that wealth directly to you, there’s still a substantial amount of indirect benefit of just being associated with that wealth. A name might open doors that would otherwise be closed.You got a lot of opportunity.All of that snowballs through generations. And a lack of that opportunity also snowballs through generations.[6] (Credit to Feifei Wang for sharing this awesome explanation of privilege and how small differences in opportunity over time really stack up, and can then lead to thinking you never had or needed the snowplow in the first place.)So, if 150–250 years ago, your ancestors had land, it’s very likely that you are still indirectly benefiting from that today, even if there’s not a dollar in your bank account that can be directly traced to that land. You benefit in networking, opportunity, and the absence of sunk costs.So, if we back that all up to the original distribution of real property, policies that made it harder for non-whites to own land, or businesses, or have opportunities, or that actively dispossessed some non-whites of land, businesses, and opportunities that they already had, together massively disadvantaged non-whites.You were very much more likely to have ancestors that had that land, and the opportunities that came from the generational accumulation of opportunity, if you were white.You got to drive behind the snowplow.Fine, you say. What does that have to do with, say, a white person who immigrates today? We’ve ended most of those polices - there aren’t federal land grants, etc. anymore, right?And there’s some truth to that. If you’re a relatively recent newcomer to the U.S., this is probably less of a factor for you.But here’s the thing: you look like the people for whom that was a factor. You might have a name similar to theirs. You might speak English in a dialect that more closely matches theirs.All of that accumulated generational opportunity created something else, a snowplow of a different sort:Structural privilege“If I’d accidentally jostled the Baronet Pettur in the street while I was still barefoot and muddy, he could have horsewhipped me bloody, then called the constable to arrest me for being a public nuisance. The constable would have done it, too, with a smile and a nod.Let me try to say this more succinctly. In the Commonwealth, the gentry are people with power and money. In Vintas, the gentry have power and money and privilege. Many rules simply do not apply to them.” – Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s FearUnderstand first what privilege is. It’s not merely advantage. Privilege is the extent to which you are exempted from certain social rules.In the earlier days of the nation, there was a very overt structural privilege built on race. Literally. Under the Naturalization Act of 1790, non-whites were legally not allowed to own property, vote, or testify in court.[7] The notorious Dred Scott Supreme Court decision held that those of African descent could never become citizens, no matter what.[8]Those who argue against white privilege sometimes point to the fact that slavery was not a new institution. However, this generally fails to acknowledge that American slavery was particularly unique, and unique in its cruelty, in that it was built specifically on race and white supremacy.[9] Even the lowliest piece of white trash would always be systemically superior to blacks in this system.This was done purposefully because the people running that power structure were vastly outnumbered by the people they controlled. By creating a system where the people at the bottom of that power structure essentially policed themselves, the people at the top could avoid any unification and uprising against them. Whole fields of pseudo-science were created to try to prove the basis for this. Religion was corrupted to justify it.Even after the Civil War, institutional momentum tried to preserve this status quo, through black codes and Jim Crow,[10] through criminalization targeted at racial minorities,[11] and even through simple class warfare that disproportionately (and intentionally) impacted blacks more than whites.[12]All of this was designed for one simple purpose: to create a hidden system of social rules for non-whites that did not apply to whites, which preserved a social order of white supremacy.Today, we’ve made some strides in trying to at least legally abolish the overt structural racism. There’s various Civil Rights Acts, the Fair Housing Act, anti-poverty and affirmative action programs that are meant to balance out that generational accumulation of opportunity.Now, I didn’t actively participate in any of the creation and perpetuation of the systemic problems, for the most part. The vast majority of all this machinery was put into place long before I was ever born, and even the attempts to correct for it were started considerably before I came about.But it still exists. And I benefit from it.My life is easier because of both that generational accumulated opportunity and the systemic privilege.In terms of generational accumulated opportunity, I got to go to college. And law school. And I had a place to stay if needed, and parents who could backstop me if I had a sudden massive expense. I got a lot of these opportunities because I had parents who could afford to spend time with me as a kid, make sure that I did well in school, provided external opportunities to learn and grow, had a hobby farm where I could learn skills such as home construction, mechanical repair, woodworking, and much more.They got a lot of that opportunity to provide those opportunities for me because of the work of previous generations snowplowing the way for them.My family mostly covered my wedding, and we had numerous baby showers when my son was on his way. Just these two alone probably freed up nearly $20,000 for me. That all came from a bunch of people who all got to follow a snowplow of their own, and who could afford to put it together for us.Because of who my grandfathers and grandmothers and parents were, my name carries with it a certain reputation that opened doors. In my lifetime, there are over half a dozen employment opportunities that I got that I can directly trace to people who gave me a chance because of my family.Go back to the point where my family really started generationally accumulating that opportunity, just in the United States, and at least some of it is due to policies that advantaged them for being white.In terms of structural privilege, there are a whole host of social rules that do not apply to me because I am white.[13]I am far less likely to be stopped by the police.[14]I am far less likely for those rare, but routine police encounters to turn violent.[15]I am far less likely to face incarceration.[16]I am far less likely to be suspected of petty crimes such as shoplifting or drugs.[17]Nobody ever asks me where I am really from. Nobody ever suggests to me that I should head back to Germany. Nobody ever looks at me and wonders if I’m a citizen or illegal immigrant purely based on the color of my skin.If I, a lily-white Midwesterner said, “It all goes down tonight. It’s going to be a huge blast. People will be talking about this for years,” what do you picture? Could be a party, right?Go back and say it with a Middle-Eastern accent.[18]I’m more likely to be rented an apartment, and pay less in rent when I do.[19] I’m more likely to achieve upper management positions in corporations.[20] I’m more likely to be paid higher than equally qualified candidates of non-white ethnicities.[21] I’m more likely to get called back for a second interview. I’m more likely to get an interview.[22]Nobody asks me to buy something or leave at Starbucks, and nobody would ever call the cops on me if I didn’t.[23]Nobody would call the police because I was sleeping in the student lounge of the dorm I lived in.[24]These rules exist for people who are not white, and the application of these rules and my exemptions from them are predicated on my race. The rules my life operates on are fundamentally different than if I were not white.Now, does this mean I haven’t earned a damned thing in my life? No.Does it mean I should feel guilty over my life having been easier? Absolutely not.It just means I should recognize the ways I am following the snowplow.I didn’t make the snowplow. I didn’t hire the snowplow driver. I didn’t send the snowplow out to clear that road for me. That snowplow didn’t clear that path with me in mind in particular and would have cleared that path whether I existed or not.But now I drive on that road.It would be wrong of me to think that I earned that plowed road, or that I deserve that plowed road, or that I would have totally gotten everything I have now without that snowplow clearing the way for me, or that the snowplow never existed.It doesn’t negate what I have done, what I have earned, or the validity of the road I have traveled to acknowledge that it was a hell of a lot easier than it is for others driving down a road that hasn’t been snowplowed, or worse, plowed in.So, what does it mean?In more civilized times, we called it noblesse oblige.[25]I was also lucky over this weekend, because one of my family members had a snowblower that hadn’t been used in years. He was going to throw it out. He’d barely ever used it because his neighbor has an ATV with a plow on it and just does his driveway for him. I asked if I could buy it from him, and he told me to just take it. If I could get it running, it was mine.I’ve been shoveling this whole time, and it’s wearing on me. I busted up my shoulder and my back playing rugby in college, and I’m getting old and fat and out of shape. And me being outside shoveling means my wife is in the house taking care of our kid, and she’s so exhausted, I try to take whatever shifts I can.I don’t have much spare income for a snowblower right now. I’d been dreaming about one, but it just wasn’t really in the cards at the moment. And our driveway is small enough that I couldn’t justify the hundreds of dollars, even for a used one.So, this was a godsend if it worked.All I ended up having to do was clean some leaves out of the tank and put some fresh gas in, which my father in law did for me while we were visiting. It started right up and runs perfectly.When I got home from that long trip, I still had to plow out our driveway. We didn’t get nearly as much as my in-laws, but still got about 5–6 inches. And, the town had gone through with the plow and dumped a big ridge in my driveway, enough that I didn’t want to pack it down before getting my wife and son in the house. I shoveled a quick path for them, and then set to work snowblowing the driveway with my new snowblower. It took me probably a third of the time it took to shovel and was so much easier. May God smile upon the inventor of the snowblower, for he is an unsung hero of the world.Now, I could have just stopped when I done with our driveway and put it away until the next time it snows.But our neighbor is going through a divorce, and she is essentially a single mom with four kids, one of whom has some serious health issues. She’s doing everything she can to stay afloat. She doesn’t have a garage with her house, so I let her have access to our garage to use our tools like the mower and shovel.She just needs a little landing pad for her minivan and a path to her door. She’d already borrowed our shovel and cleared some of it out, but she wasn’t able to do a lot. Not a knock against her; it was that wet, heavy heart-attack snow and she doesn’t have that much time for these things.I took the snowblower over and cleared that out some more for her. I cleaned up the piles next to the end of the driveway that she might have backed into on her way out. I dug it down to the concrete pathway so it wasn’t so slick. I ground down the packed ridge from the town plow. I widened out the spot where she was parked so her kids could get in and out a little easier without having to step through the snow to get in the car.Really, it took me maybe ten minutes and twenty cents’ worth of mixed gas.For her, it would have been another half-hour of labor, or hundreds of dollars for a snowblower of her own, which she would have had no place to store.It cost me virtually nothing, because of a snowplow that I got to drive behind. It would have cost her a lot more, because she doesn’t have that particular snowplow.That’s what acknowledging that life is easier is. Nothing more, nothing less.It’s realizing that not everyone got to drive behind the snowplow.It’s advocating for others who don’t get to drive behind the snowplow to have it at least a little easier.It’s not just trying to be nice to everyone, but being good to them.It’s actively working to grant others the same kind of life you enjoy for free.It’s using your place of privilege to make the world a little better.It’s being aware that you can make the world a little better.It’s using that privilege responsibly to help pay it forward. To help plow someone else out who needs it. To make their life at least a little bit closer to as easy as you’ve got it.To make the world just a little bit more fair.I didn’t deserve that snowblower.But I have it.I might as well do some good with it.I have other pictures here, but someone will comment that it was long and there wasn’t an animal at the end. Fine. Here. Enjoy this dog who apparently snowblows the driveway.Mostly Standard Addendum and Disclaimer: read this before you comment.Every time I write about this kind of stuff, it brings out a certain segment of the population.I welcome rational, reasoned debate on the merits with reliable, credible sources.But coming on here and calling me names, pissing and moaning about how biased I am, etcetera and so forth, will result in a swift one-way frogmarch out the airlock. Doing the same to others will result in the same treatment.Essentially, act like an adult and don’t be a dick about it.This kind of nonsense:will earn a special place in the annals of mockery while they howl at the void.I’m done with warnings. If you have to consider whether or not you’re over the line, the answer is most likely yes. I’ll just delete your comment and probably block you, and frankly, I won’t lose an ounce of sleep over it.Being a special kind of dick like the one above might earn you a place in the Hall of Shame, so I suppose if you plan to be a dick, you might as well go full out and make it worthwhile.Debate responsibly.Footnotes[1] Bomb cyclone: Even bigger storm slams Minnesota this weekend[2] History and Overview of the Land Grant College System[3] US Government Land Grants[4] The Social Distribution of Landed Property in England Since the Sixteenth Century[5] https://lawreview.vermontlaw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/johnson2.pdf[6] The Pencilsword: On a plate[7] The Volatile History of U.S. Immigration[8] {{meta.pageTitle}}[9] The Invention of Race | Specials | WNYC[10] Black Codes and Pig Laws | Slavery By Another Name Bento | PBS[11] The New Jim Crow[12] Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy[13] Peter Kruger's answer to Do you believe in "white privilege"? Have you ever witnessed/experienced it?[14] The Stanford Open Policing Project[15] After Ferguson, black men still face the highest risk of being killed by police[16] A Mass Incarceration Mystery[17] https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6419&context=jclc[18] The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour (Video 2008) - IMDb[19] Analysis: African-Americans pay more for rent, especially in white neighborhoods[20] The Relationship of Race and Gender to Managers' Ratings of Promotion Potential[21] African Americans are paid less than whites at every education level[22] Employers' Replies to Racial Names[23] Wrongfully arrested at Philadelphia Starbucks, two black men seek to turn an injustice into good[24] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/05/10/a-black-yale-student-fell-asleep-in-her-dorms-common-room-a-white-student-called-police/[25] Definition of NOBLESSE OBLIGE

Here are President Obama's top 50 accomplishmentsThe comprehensive legacy of the 44th President.by Paul Glastris and Nancy LeTourneauMAGAZINEIn March 2012, we compiled a list of what were, at the time, President Barack Obama’s greatest achievements, to accompany our cover story, “The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama.” Today, at the end of his second term, Obama’s legacy is far more complete. Indeed, items from the original list—such as increasing national service opportunities, creating the Race to the Top education reform program, and expanding stem cell research—fell off in order to make room for new ones.But his legacy is also under threat. Donald Trump and the new Republican-dominated Congress have pledged to undo much of what the president has achieved, including repealing the Affordable Care Act and reversing important executive actions on immigration and climate change. So it is with this caveat that we offer the following updated list of Obama’s top accomplishments.1. Passed Health Care ReformAfter five presidents over the course of a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. More than twenty million Americans have gained coverage since the passage of the law, which provides subsidies for Americans to buy coverage, expands Medicaid eligibility, and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. The uninsured rate has dropped from 16 percent in 2010 to 9 percent in 2015. The law also mandates free preventive care, allows young people to stay on their parents’ policies up to age twenty-six, and imposes a ban on annual and lifetime caps on benefits.2. Rescued the EconomySigned the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the most severe downturn since the Great Depression. As of October 2016, the economy had added 15.5 million new jobs since early 2010 and set a record with seventy-three straight months of private-sector job growth. The unemployment rate, which hit a sustained peak of about 10 percent in 2009, has dropped to 4.6 percent as of November 2016.3. Passed Wall Street ReformSigned the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, allows the government to take them into receivership if they pose a threat to the economy, and limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit. Dodd-Frank also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending and financial services. By the end of fiscal year 2016, the CFPB had handled nearly one million consumer complaints and taken actions that resulted in $11.7 billion in relief for more than twenty-seven million consumers.4. Negotiated a Deal to Block A Nuclear IranLed six nations in reaching an agreement with Iran that requires the country to end its nuclear weapons program and submit to a rigorous International Atomic Energy Agency inspections regime in exchange for lifting global sanctions. The deal—which resulted from first toughening sanctions against Iran—also blocked Iran’s pathways to building a bomb, slowing down the development time for a weapon from three months to one year if Iran were to break its commitments.5. Secured U.S. Commitment to a Global Agreement on Climate ChangeProvided key leadership to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which produced the2015 Paris Agreement, a commitment by 197 nations to reduce global carbon emissions and limit the global rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius.6. Eliminated Osama bin LadenIn 2011, ordered the Special Forces raid of the secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was retained.7. Ended U.S. Combat Missions in Iraq and AfghanistanAfter an initial troop surge in Afghanistan, brought home 90 percent of the nearly 180,000 troops who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office, leaving only a small contingent of forces to assist the Iraqi and Afghani militaries against insurgents and the Taliban. The withdrawal from Iraq created the vacuum that ISIS has filled. But, recently, without redeploying ground troops, the U.S. has helped the Iraqi military in reversing ISIS’s gains.8. Turned Around the U.S. Auto IndustryIn 2009, injected $62 billion (on top of the $13.4 billion in loans from the George W. Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. By December 2014, the car companies had repaid $70.4 billion of the funds, and the Center for Automotive Research estimated that 2.5 million jobs were saved.9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’Ended the 1990s-era restriction and formalized a new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.10. Supported Federal Recognition of Same-Sex MarriagesDecided in 2011 that the federal government would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricted federal marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples. In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key portions of the law as unconstitutional, allowing married same-sex couples to finally receive federal protections like Social Security and veteran benefits.11. Reversed Bush Torture PoliciesTwo days after taking office, signed an executive order banning the so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the CIA under President Bush and considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush administration legal opinions supporting the use of these techniques.12. Established Rules to Limit Carbon Emissions from Power PlantsFinalized a “Clean Power Plan” in 2015 through new EPA regulations, setting the first-ever carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. When fully implemented in 2030, the new rules will result in a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2005.13. Normalized Relations with CubaIn 2014, took steps to open diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, ending the failed Cold War policy of isolation. In March 2016, direct mail flights to Cuba resumed for the first time in fifty years. American tourists may also now freely visit the country.14. Put Medicare on Sounder Financial FootingSlowed the growth of health care spending through cost-saving measures enacted as part of the ACA, ensuring the solvency of Medicare’s principal trust fund through 2028.15. Protected DREAMers from DeportationTook executive action in June 2012 to protect undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children(so-called DREAMers) from deportation and allow them to apply for work permits.16. Established Net NeutralityDirected the Federal Communications Commission to issue a rule classifying internet service providers as a public utility and forcing them to treat all web traffic the same, regardless of source. After years of litigation, a federal court upheld the FCC’s rule, meaning providers can’t favor certain websites or block others.17. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme CourtNominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor (the first Hispanic person and third woman to serve on the Court) in 2009 and Elena Kagan (the fourth woman) in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.18. Boosted Fuel Efficiency StandardsReleased new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025.19. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant FundingAs part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed a measure ending the decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. As a result, all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. More than half of the savings ($36 billion over ten years) is dedicated to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.20. Improved America’s Image AbroadWith new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. Favorable opinion toward the United States rose during Obama’s first term in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent, and have stayed high ever since.21. Left His Mark on the Federal JudiciaryAppointed more than 300 judges to federal district and appeals courts, in line with other two-term presidents, tipping the balance to majority Democrat appointed. A majority of judges on nine of the thirteen appeals courts are now Democratic appointees—compared to just one when Obama took office. Appointed a record number of female (138) and minority (120) judges to the federal bench, as well as eleven openly gay or lesbian judges.22. Diversified the Federal BureaucracyAppointed women and people of color to fill more than half of appointments to policy positions requiring Senate confirmation, including seventeen of thirty-one Cabinet positions.23. Passed Fair Sentencing ActSigned 2010 legislation that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine possession from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. Successfully lobbied the United States Sentencing Commission to apply those measures retroactively, which contributed to the largest decrease in the federal prison population in over thirty years.24. Revived the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights DivisionThrough then Attorney General Eric Holder, announced a major overhaul of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in 2009 to bring back federal civil rights enforcement, which had atrophied under President Bush. Among other priorities, the division stepped up its efforts against housing and employment discrimination, strengthened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and put renewed focus on cracking down on discriminatory policing practices.25. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed ProtectionSigned the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which designates more than two million acres as wilderness, creates thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protects over 1,000 miles of rivers. By designating new national monuments and other measures, permanently protects over 548 million acres, more than any other president.26. Gave the FDA the Power to Regulate TobaccoSigned the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels. It also bans the sale of “light” cigarettes and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.27. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile DefenseCut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of a sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.28. Kick-started Clean Energy InvestmentAs part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion in research on smart grids, energy-efficient electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels. Launched a clean energy incubator within the Argonne National Laboratory and encouraged $4 billion in commitments by foundations, institutional investors, and other private-sector stakeholders to boost their investments in clean energy technology.29. Reduced the Threat from Nuclear WeaponsInitiated the biannual Nuclear Security Summit to address the global threat posed by nuclear terrorism and advance a common approach to strengthening nuclear security. As a result, weapons-usable highly enriched uranium has been removed from sixteen countries. Signed and won ratification of a 2011 treaty with Russia to limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400). The treaty also reestablished a monitory and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009.30. Passed Credit Card ReformsSigned the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.31. Cut Veteran Homelessness by HalfIn 2010, launched the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors, which has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans since 2010 and aims to end youth homelessness by 2020.32. Enacted Government Surveillance ReformSigned the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which bans the governmental collection of bulk data, creates a special panel to provide technical and legal advice to the court administering the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and provides greater transparency for FISA court opinions. The ACLU noted that the legislation marked the first time since 1978 that Congress has “taken steps to restrict, rather than expand, its government surveillance authority.”33. Expanded Overtime PayUpdated a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure overtime pay for employees making up to $47,476 a year, thereby expanding overtime protections to 4.2 million workers. The new rules were set to go into effect in December 2016, but were blocked in November by a federal judge in Texas.34. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit CollegesThrough the Department of Education, issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011, cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 25 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans or if former students spend more than 12 percent of their average total earnings servicing student loans. In June 2016, regulators voted to shut down the nation’s largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, cutting off federal aid to hundreds of for-profits.35. Cut the DeficitReduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016, one benefit of a strengthening economy.36. Created the College ScorecardThrough the Department of Education, developed a comprehensive database in 2015 that allows prospective college students to compare potential schools based on costs, graduation rates, debt, and post-college earnings.37. Improved School NutritionSigned the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, championed by Michelle Obama, mandating a $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional standards for school lunches. New rules double the amount of fruits and vegetables, and require only whole grains, in foods served to students.38. Expanded the Definition of Hate CrimesSigned the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, applying existing hate crime laws to crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, religion, or national origin.39. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon DioxideThrough 2009 EPA regulations, declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulateits production.40. Strengthened Women’s Right to Fair PaySigned the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if it happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.41. Secured the Removal of Chemical Weapons from SyriaForced an agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2013 to destroy the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons in accordance with the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. In 2016, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed the destruction of thousands of tons of mustard gas and other toxic chemicals. (There is evidence, however, that Assad has recently continued to use chlorine gas against rebels and civilians in Aleppo.)42. Protected LGBTQ Americans From Employment DiscriminationSigned an executive order in 2014 prohibiting federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against their workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.43. Reduced Discrimination Against Former Prisoners in Federal HiringSigned an executive order to “ban the box” in federal hiring and contracting. Government employers can’t ask about criminal records at the beginning of the application process, giving applicants with a criminal history a fairer shot.44. Won Major Victories Against Housing and Mortgage DiscriminationThrough the Justice Department, reached a record $335 million settlement against Countrywide Financial Corporation and a $175 million settlement against Wells Fargo for their practices of charging higher interest and fees to African American and Latino borrowers prior to the financial crisis, in addition to numerous other suits pursued on behalf of borrowers. In 2015, the administration successfully argued before the Supreme Court that victims of housing discrimination suing for bias only need to show “disparate impact,” not an intent to discriminate, to win their case.45. Expanded Broadband CoverageObtained approval from the FCC to shift $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadbandinternet access for lower-income rural families. By 2016, 98 percent of Americans had access to fast 4G/LTE broadband.46. Expanded Health Coverage for ChildrenSigned the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act in 2009, expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover an additional four million children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.47. Improved Food SafetySigned the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which increased the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expanded its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing the number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the safety practices of countries exporting food products to the U.S.48. Let the Space Shuttle Die and Killed the Planned Moon MissionAllowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, and dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for the even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build a moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, designed to investigate Mars’s potential to support life.49. Rebuilt and Fortified the Gulf Coast post-KatrinaCompleted a $14.5 billion system in 2011 to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and protect it from a 100-year storm.50. Avoided ScandalBecame the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two terms with no serious personal or political scandal.[Ryan Cooper and Siyu Hu contributed to the 2012 version of this article.]Paul Glastris and Nancy LeTourneau

For the United States Park Service:This very much depends on what division you work for, what type of park you work at, as well as what location you work in that park if it is a large park.In the old days, park rangers were generalists and did everything: this included, acting as historians, environmental researchers, public educators, doing maintenance on facilities, enforcing park rules/laws, and acting in emergencies such as fire, search & rescue, and medical emergencies. Many State and local Park Services still have generalist rangers that are expected to do all of these as part of their job but the National Park Service has since divided up its “Rangers” or employees into 5 broad divisions. There are still some small National park Units (e.g. Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments) or remote areas inside larger parks (e.g. Dog Canyon in Guadalupe Mountain National Park) where an NPS ranger is expected to do all of these things but they are very rare. So the groups are:Administration:These people are the office workers that work behind the scenes. They include accountants, lawyers, IT professionals, Administrative Assistants (secretaries), Human Resource people, and everyone else that all large companies and agencies have that members of the public rarely see. In large parks, some of these people are found at the headquarters area in the park (e.g. Mammoth, in Yellowstone) other places they are found in an office building in the nearest city by the park, and still, others are found in the Regional (Atlanta, Anchorage, Denver, Omaha, Philadelphia, Washington DC) or National offices (Denver or Washington DC).These are permanent positions and work would be like any other white-collar job. They may or may not have to wear the uniform on a daily basis if they are not in the public eye. In general, these workers are not offered government housing (unless they work in a large remote park without services nearby) and live in the local commuting area in a self-provided house.Maintenance:This division has both skilled (plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mansions, mechanics, etc) and unskilled (lawn mowing, janitors) labor workers that keep the facilities running. They can be seasonal or permanent workers and usually work something similar to a regular 9-5 Monday-Friday shift. The exceptions are usually seasonal maintenance workers that are tasked with janitorial and groundskeeping work on the weekends. In remote parks, the seasonal maintenance workers are usually provided on-park housing while the permanent staff lives off the park in self-provided housing. Remote park locations usually have one or two permanent maintenance staff that are required to live on the park in park-housing in case of a maintenance-related emergency.In the summertime, some large remote parks hire seasonal Trail-crew workers. These workers work in teams to repair old, and build new, hiking trails. These workers usually are provided park housing when not on the trail. However, depending on the park they may only take day trips to fix trails, or they may be on the trail for weeks at a time and thus required to camp on-site with the trail crew for extended periods.Resource Management:This branch includes most of the park academics and the Wildland Firefighters. Most wildland firefighters are seasonal hires and like most seasonal NPS workers are provided seasonal housing on the park that they are working at. Their bosses are usually permanent employees and most of them live off the park with possible exceptions of those in very remote large parks. Wild-land firefighters' schedules can vary greatly depending on location. Some spend most days doing maintenance or working-out on their shift. Other times they do controlled-burns of rangeland to prevent larger fires. Most of them are hoping for the big one to rage. Usually, they respond to wildfires on their home park but during wildfire season they can be shipped to anywhere across the country where a large wildfire is burning and must be responding (in travel) within 24 hours. Once on a fire, they will usually live in whatever accommodations are provided, usually a tent city, and be sent out to work for days at a time working on fire lines, manning helicopter equipment, or doing whatever job position they are assigned to fill. They get hazard pay while working on a fire so they come back with a sizable paycheck.The rest of the Resource Management Division are mostly academics like geologists, biologists, historians, archaeologists, etc. They usually consist of a permanent staff of highly degreed people (Masters or Ph.D. types) and a seasonal staff consisting of those with Bachelor's degrees or above in various subjects. This is the job category that requires the most formal education. Their work hours can vary depending on what project they are working on and they may spend only a few hours in the field or have to take overnight camping trips for weeks at a time depending on the requirements of the job. These are the people that produce scientific peer-reviewed papers on all the research or discoveries of the park. As for housing permanent workers usually provide their own off park (unless in an extremely remote area) and seasonal workers usually have government housing on the park (unless working at a small urban park). These workers mostly work in the field behind the scenes and are not usually required to wear the uniform unless they are in the public eye.Resource management also employs workers (usually seasonal) to check for and eradicate invasive species. This can mean jobs such as checking boats for zebra mussels, hunting pigs, or spraying herbicide on invasive plants. Closely related are technicians that try to limit the interactions with dangerous wildlife such as bears in parks with campers and heavy bear populations. Usually, these employees are back at home at the end of the day.Interpretation (I)/Education/ Visitor Assistance:For the most part, these workers are the public face of the National Park Service. There are both permanent and seasonal positions and they are responsible for operating the entrance stations, campgrounds, visitor centers, creating and providing educational programs to all ages, and guiding visitors on hikes. They are also responsible for creating educational signs and exhibits around the park. These Rangers usually work a normal shift and then go home at the end of the day. As usual seasonal rangers get park housing (except in urban parks) and permanent rangers live off the park (except in very remote parks). Experience in Natural resources, history, education, presenting to large and small groups, and the ability to speak foreign languages are sought after in these jobs. Some parks have “Environmental Education” positions that generally do the same educational type of thing geared towards school children. They may do outreach to schools and/or have summer programs for kids who are on summer break.Visitor and Resource Protection:These Rangers are commonly called “Law Enforcement (LE)” or “Protection (P)” Rangers. They are the rangers that carry guns and handcuffs like a police officer and are responsible for enforcing the law. The extent of the laws that they enforce gets complicated and changes depending on the park and the type of jurisdiction it has. In general, these rangers are park police officers at a minimum. After that, they may or may not be responsible for other things. In inner-city parks, they usually only enforce park rules. In remote parks, they may also be required to enforce state laws and may be responsible for Emergency Medical Care, Structural Firefighting, and Search & Rescues.Protection Rangers can be classified as front-country or back-country. Backcountry rangers are the most like traditional rangers and may hike, canoe, or ride a horse into the backcountry and be stationed out there for weeks to months at a time depending on the schedule set by the management.Front-country rangers are much more like park police they work shifts and are home every day at the end of the shift. In urban parks that’s the end of the story--go to work do your shift and you’re done. You then get to go to your own home and forget about work until tomorrow. In rural/wilderness parks Protection rangers, both seasonal and permanent, are usually required to live on the park. This is so they can respond to call-outs that can occur at all times of the day and night regardless of if they are “on-duty” or not. In this way, the park service keeps rangers always available without them actually having to be paid to be “on-call” like a professional firefighter sitting in a station would be.Law enforcement rangers at a minimum need to have taken and passed, within 3 years, an NPS Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program (SLETP) course but may also be required to have many other Emergency Medical and Search and Rescue certifications depending on the job.***All permanent Firefighting and Law Enforcement officers (wildland fire and LE rangers) in the federal government have 6C retirement which means a mandatory retirement on your 57th birthday. The government wants 20 years of service from you so you have to be originally hired into a permanent (seasonal positions don’t count) 6C covered position before your 37th birthday unless you get a voucher for completing military service.Others:There are some positions that are very specialized and found in some places and not others like:-Rangers specifically employed to do Search and Rescue (PSAR in Shenandoah, Rock climbers in Yosemite, Lifeguards at Gateway National Recreation area)-Unarmed rangers that do back-country patrols (Sequoia, Shenandoah)-Animal Packers and caretakers (i.e. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Sequoia, and Grand Canyon have horses and mules; while Denali has sled dogs)-Various Regional Specialists are based out of a regional office and are sent to any park in the Region as needed for specific problems for example: Structural Engineers from the regional office may be sent to a site if a historical structure is about to fall, and Criminal/Fire Investigators are sent to major investigations on parks in their region.That is the basics. But as stated earlier the job can vary a great deal from park to park. Some NPS sites are in the middle of a city, some in the middle of nowhere (that nowhere can be on land or ocean). The smallest site (Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial) is one 4-story tall building (5 if you count the basement) that covers 0.02 acres, the largest is Wrangell-St. Elias at 20625 square miles. In some parks, Law Enforcement is the only staff that does all emergency services. In other parks Search and Rescue, EMS, and Fire Fighting may be partly or mostly staffed with Interpretation Rangers, Scientist, or Maintenance staff. In some parks the divisions get along great in others they never talk to each other out of inter-departmental spite.***********************************************************************************Lifestyle and Living situations:Park Types:As stated earlier there are different types of Parks that make for very different living situations. There are your Urban Parks (e.g. Independence National Monument, St. Louis Arch, Statue of Liberty, Lincoln Home, etc) these parks are usually small in size, have a lot of local people using them and tourists but very few, if any, staff live on them they usually live in the surrounding city. Then there are the remote parks ranging from small to large in size. Usually, the small parks are sparsely populated with their small very isolated staff living on them (e.g. Chaco Canyon). Large parks can also be sparsely populated and very isolated (e.g. Everglades, Wrangell St. Elias) or they can be heavily populated with so many concessionaire and NPS employees and their families that the park essentially contains its own town or city with things like their own school district, grocery stores, jails, courts, victim assistance programs, and hospitals (e.g. Yellowstone, Grand Canyon has 2000–3000 residents mixed in with all those visitors) these large populated parks clearly have some very remote locations in them as well so it can be isolated if you are a backcountry ranger but feel like living in a town if you are front-country (the majority of workers in the park).-Job Security:Legally seasonal positions can only last a maximum of 6 months. In reality, the positions usually only last for 4 months. This means Seasonal workers are constantly looking ahead, planning, and applying for jobs. There are a lot of seasonal park ranger jobs in the summer but few in the winter so that leads to a lot of unemployed or alternatively employed park rangers in the winter season. Seasonal workers do not get the benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc) that a permanent worker gets.In terms of job security for workers with permanent positions— like most fully employed Federal Employees—they have a job throughout the year that caries over until you quit, retire, or get fired. That job comes with some relatively good protections (thanks to the 4th Amendment) and decent benefits (retirement, Health Insurance, etc) as long as you make it through your first 1–2 years which is considered a “probationary period.” Within a probationary period, you can be fired at the drop of a hat unless your work area has some sort of Union protection. Unionization is on a park-by-park basis and sometimes only applies to certain departments. Most parks don’t have them but some do.Permanent Law enforcement rangers also don't really have job security until they have completed the Land Management Police Training (LMPT) program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and then Field Training after that. This usually happens 2–3 years into your permanent job and long after the ranger has already been through at least the original SLETP academy (which teaches the same stuff as FLETC) and years of seasonal law enforcement work (which is really the same job as permanent law enforcement work). In Field training a field trainer (you will have AT LEAST 3 of them) that doesn't like you can fail you for anything or nothing. If you think you’ll only be failed out of field training because of poor skill performance and not personal grudges, retaliation, or because one of your field trainers just doesn’t like something about you; you’re living in a fantasy. If you are failed out of Field Training (which may take place on your home park or a park on the other side of the country that you’ve never been to before) you will be banned from ever working as a law enforcement ranger in any capacity (seasonal or permanent) for life despite having already been a solid seasonal and permanent ranger for years by that time.-Unequal Federal Hiring Practices and the Jealousy that followsAnyone who works in the US Federal government can tell you about this but it is especially prominent in highly sought-after positions with highly skilled workers.Long story short it is this is essentially the dynamic that two elite college students might have toward each other. There is the smart kid who got in because s/he had Straight A grades for all 12 years of grade school is involved in 8 different civic groups, has founded 2 charities, and is a community pillar at the age of 18. Then there is the dumb rich kid that gets in because his/her family bought their way in. Both students know the rich kid got an unfair placement and doesn’t have the skills to back up the position given and the smart kid knows 5 other high-achieving students that are more qualified than the rich kid but didn’t get in because the rich kid got the slot. So, the smart kid resents the rich guy for his lack of skills and unfair promotion to his level without the work and the rich guy resents and is jealous of the smart guy because the smart guy makes him look bad by just existing with his brain. The NPS, thanks to the U.S. Federal Government's hiring practices has the same dynamic.The Department of the Interior which houses most of the nation's land management agencies has the most diversity in its jobs of any other department in the Federal Government. Some of the individuals with the most diversified skill sets in the government are Park Rangers. The amount of tasks and skills the ideal ranger has is huge. Think about the generalist ranger from the days of old. Each of these rangers are trained in multiple skills including firefighting (wildland & structural), natural sciences, mechanics, law enforcement, emergency medicine. They are teachers, guides, rock/alpine climbers, boat operators, pilots, scuba divers, lifeguards…..all rolled into one person.Essentially, these guys/gals have consciously or—in the rare case of someone born to a very unique family, like the child of park rangers—unconsciously, been gathering the skills of being a ranger throughout their life. They have gone to college and got naturalist/teaching degrees, learned to rock climb, navigate in the wilderness, alpine ski in avalanche terrain, roll a kayak, they have joined the volunteer fire department, reserve police force, and volunteer search & rescue patrol. They have likely worked multiple jobs and lived in multiple states across the country if not countries around the world learning these skills. They have had to adapt to many different cultures in their path to ranger-hood and therefore are usually pretty accepting of others. These are the people the NPS wants to hire.However, the Federal Government has laws about hiring and those laws give out special status to various groups that place them above anyone else for both hiring and promotions. The largest group that has many of the most important “statuses” are people with military service. An applicant with military service and no experience as a ranger or much in the way of ranger skill (other than firearms) often is required to be hired over a highly qualified seasonal ranger with all the experience listed in the previous paragraph and 15 years spent actually doing the job. These status applicants can often skip the seasonal law enforcement academy (for LE rangers) skip the stage of spending years in a seasonal position and be hired straight to permanent status with no previous experience. In law enforcement, they also skip to the front of the line to go to FLETC (a process that takes 2–3 years for non-status rangers). This may be a mixed blessing since at FLETC instructors often just glance over skills for the LMPT class because they assume that, unlike students in other programs who are hired straight into their jobs, LMPT students have already been doing the job as seasonal and permanent rangers before they got there. This means that for a military applicant who got sent straight to FLETC/LMPT without previous work experience they get shorted on the skills practice one should have after coming out of FLETC. Even after FLETC (which only teaches law enforcement not anything else) a status ranger may still have to be trained how to do the job by a more qualified seasonal ranger they kept from attaining a permanent position. And thus you have a dynamic of jealousy and resentment in the NPS between those that have lots of skills and still struggle to get in and get promoted and those that do not have the skill and get handed the job because of a grant of “status.”******After many decades of highly qualified seasonals never getting past “Status” applicants to get into permanent positions, the Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR) finally got the “Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act” passed into law. This gives long time seasonal rangers limited “status” that now at least gives them a fair chance at getting a permanent job that they didn’t have before.*******-HOUSING:For staff that live off the park the job is like any other job in that you work for 8 hours a day, 5 days (or some other version of 40 hours) a week and go home at the end of the day to have your own life like any other 9–5 job.For workers that live in the park it is an entirely different story (especially for permanent employees):Staff that live in the park either have their own recreational vehicle that they set up on a park-issued RV site or they are issued “apartments.” These “apartments” are sometimes stand-alone houses, sometimes historic quarters, sometimes trailer homes, sometimes park-owned RVs, oftentimes multifamily “townhouse” type buildings (usually single-story unless living in an area prone to flooding—e.g. Everglades), and occasionally actual apartment or repurposed hotel buildings. Seasonal employees may get their own “apartment” but usually end up having at least a housemate if not a roommate. Permanent employees usually end up getting their own “apartment” and can live there with a family if they have one. Pets are usually allowed for permanents but not allowed for seasonals—although if a seasonal gets lucky enough to not have to share an apartment they might be allowed to have a pet (this depends on management). Seasonal apartments are fully furnished but permanents have to provide everything but a refrigerator and a cooking range for themselves.The rent for apartments (or RV sites) is deducted directly from your paycheck (for both seasonal and permanent staff) and the government does some funky math to base the rental rates off the rental rates of the “surrounding area” (which might not actually be the closest community to you) not the market value of your particular apartment (as the apartment is not on the market) or how well it is kept up. So, you may be assigned to live in a run-down trailer near a resort town. If so you’ll likely be paying a lot for your cramped junk pile. On the other hand, if you get assigned to live in a new building (VERY RARE with the current budget) or a historically significant building that is required to be well kept up at a park near a lower-income area of the country you could pay relatively little on rent for a pretty nice place.-Work/Home Life:If you are living on the park your work and home life WILL BLEND MORE THAN NOT. Just how completely depends on your job position and how remote your park is. The closer you are to a city/town the more non-park-related outlets you’ll have but remote locations mean the park becomes your work life as well as your only source of recreation when not working.If you are a back-country ranger so long as you go in and check out of the field at the right time and call/radio into dispatch at your appointed times you’re on your own. You can do your job how you see fit with very little oversight but you need to be comfortable with living off the grid with no company, modern conveniences (electricity, running water, phone service, etc), or connection with the outside world for extended periods of time. Working without vehicles and without power tools in a “designated Wilderness” You'll probably burn a lot of calories each day. So you'll need to plan how to get the needed food into the backcountry and keep it from spoiling without refrigeration. While in the backcountry you will to some extent always be on duty.As for front-country rangers that live on the park it is essentially like living in a remote small town where all your neighbors are also your coworkers and your employer owns everything, including the house you pay rent on and the utilities. So the Park is your boss, landlord, maintenance personal, the utility company, the fire department, as well the Local, State, and Federal law enforcement (all these departments are all under one superintendent). This means that the park has access to your house at all times thanks to the housing contract you had to sign when you got the job. It also means that as the landlord and your boss they can force you out of your house on a whim. I and others have our apartments “condemned” for legit as well as BOGUS reasons or have been forced to move out when the management decided to give the house to another employee that is higher on the pecking order than you for some reason (i.e. the new superintendent wants cheap housing). These moves always seem to come at the most inconvenient times (like the middle of winter, at bad timing for your family and/or when you are already swamped with work) and often involve moving you to less suitable and/or more expensive housing. Oh… and did I mention that your coworkers and supervisor may also be your next-door neighbor so disputes between neighbors or roommates are also office disputes and vice versa. They are all the same thing and many a time I’ve come into the office to my boss talking to me about a disagreement I had with my “neighbor” or “housemate.”So, if you, your coworkers, and supervisors are all friendly agreeable types that see yourselves as on the same team working for a common goal then the neighborhood can be absolutely Awesome. In the parks I’ve worked at, we as a community, have had nightly community cookouts under amazing sunsets all summer long, we’ve had huge parties, and smaller groups of us have explored parts of the park not seen by visitors, found hidden caves, been inside glaciers, dived into shipwrecks and coral reefs, watched rockets launch from Cape Canaveral, and walked through ancient ruins as parts of the solar system lined up with the marks of ancient astronomers. It really can be an awesome life. However, EVENTUALLY, leadership will change, someone will get on someone’s nerves, or will do something to cross someone with power (e.g. a supervisor, a law enforcement ranger, or a spouse of the previous two). When that happens Camelot crumbles REALLY fast. Now, because you live at work with only your coworkers and no one else, there is no escape from the turmoil.In my experience, it was better to be seasonal in this aspect because you got to experience some great moments and then leave before the crud started to stack up too high. Also, the intradepartmental politics didn’t see you as a threat because the “career guys” knew you’d be gone in 6 months. So even if they didn't like you they won't target you no matter how bad you made them look (usually due to your skills, or your lack thereof — see the Section on Jealousy and Unequal Hiring Practices) since you will never threaten their career advancement. But for a permanent, if you get on the wrong side of the wrong person you’ll lose everything (career, house, neighbors, friends, retirement, health benefits) especially during your probational period or as a permanent LE Ranger that still has to go through FLETC and Field Training.Michael Hess is absolutely right about park management. For someone living on the park, the Park Superintendent is an all-powerful being. In the unlikely event you find a wise and benevolent one you enjoy it while you can and hope s/he doesn't leave or get forced out by the politicians before you leave. If you get a bad superintendent… you bide your time, keep your head down, and if you can—plan your escape before the situation consumes you (because it will).Additionally, for all employees despite the fact that as a Park Service employee you can't officially comment about the politicians in D.C. they have an enormous direct impact on your life both on and off park. The stupidity includes:Government shutdowns (you might get laid-off or may have to work through them and when it’s over you may or may not get paid regardless of if you worked or not).Executive orders: good or bad one order and your job changes. Lately, they’ve included orders to misinform the public “you can’t say anything about ‘Global Warming’ or ‘Sea level rise” (Thanks, Trump).Half your National Monument just got given away (Thanks Zinke/Trump).Congressional hearings They may be competent hearings or just showroom political antics but you still have to put up with them and their very real consequences.Bureaucratic directives: Like Executive Orders, they may be good or bad but they change on a whim (usually of the new boss or politician that comes into power wanting to make a name for himself) hopefully your job or project you’ve been working on for years isn’t blown away with them.Budget Cuts: You are still expected to do the same job but now with half the staff. The result usually leads to an eventual rise in entrance fees to make up for the difference. Make no mistake these cuts and resulting rate hikes are political games planned by moneyed elites. They serve to limit the people that will be able to enjoy the park making your public park more of just another playground for the rich. The high price then gives those rich people more of an excuse to “privatize” the park. The privatization starts with the services in the park and then moves to justifications to privatize the park itself. Thus depriving the population even more of their right to their own country’s heritage. Consider this a warning to the average American. If you aren’t vigilant and don’t protect your public lands you will lose them and the freedom to roam and explore that comes with them.