Last week, I hiked the indescribably beautiful Chesler Trail in Canyonlands National Park. Red rock spires stretched toward a sky even bluer than on "CSI: Miami," and the profound silence was unbroken but for the flapping of a distant raven's wings.

While wandering, it occurred to me that I might not have had this mind-and-soul-restoring experience but for a federal bureaucracy in Washington having foresight to create and protect our national parks from big-business predation. Another bureaucracy, the Environmental Protection Agency, protects water and air from the ravages of toxin-spewing chemical and manufacturing plants. Two other bureaucracies, Social Security and Medicare, provide a modicum of dignity and comfort for elder Americans. The ultimate bureaucracy, the U.S. military, has admirably protected our shores for more than two centuries.

Disorganized? Inefficient? Costly? Perhaps. But who among today's naysayers would vote to eliminate any of these bureaucracies? So to those who now bemoan President Barack Obama's health care reform plan -- which will provide medical attention to millions more poor and working Americans -- as yet another Washington bureaucracy, I say, thank you, President Obama. It is long past due.

Gerald Elias

Salt Lake City