I graduated from High School in Alaska, in the shadow of Mount McKinley. We routinely referred to it as Denali and if I recall correctly my younger sister attended Denali elementary (I was already in Jr. High when we moved there).
Anyway, the POTUS has decided to act – and I’m here curious not so much about how you feel about the name change itself – as I assume a huge majority of Americans probably would support it, as I do, but rather about the way it happened.
To me this is important, because as much as I’m a progressive on many, many issues, our Constitution is our national covenant, and the success of our country has been the creation of a framework that worships freedom, rightly so, but freedom through cooperative obedience to agreed upon standards.
Below is the justification of the POTUS making the change. Do you agree / disagree with this justification, from a legal / legislative perspective? Why?
From the article:
The state of Alaska has had a standing request to change the name dating back to 1975, when the legislature passed a resolution and then-Gov. Jay Hammond made a request to the federal government. But those efforts and legislation in Congress have been stymied by members of Ohio’s congressional delegation.It was unclear whether Ohio leaders or others would mount an effort to block the change. There was no immediate response to inquiries seeking comment from House Speaker John Boehner and other Ohio lawmakers.The White House cited Jewell’s authority to change the name, and Jewell issued a secretarial order officially changing it to Denali. The Interior Department said the U.S. Board on Geographic Names had been deferring to Congress since 1977, and cited a 1947 law that allows the Interior Department to change names unilaterally when the board fails to act “within a reasonable time.” The board shares responsibility with the Interior Department for naming such landmarks.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Obama-Mount-McKinley/2015/08/30/id/672676/?ns_mail_uid=42150077&ns_mail_job=1633930_08312015&s=al&dkt_nbr=f3z3ot3o
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