I was contacted by a newspaper editor in California recently. He asked whether the National Park Service has any serious plans for adding President Ronald Reagan to Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

For years, the idea has been kicked around that another president should join George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln on the granite face of Mount Rushmore.

In fact, there’s been a running joke since the Carter administration: “Why won’t they put (insert unpopular president here) on Mount Rushmore? Because there’s not enough rock for two more faces.”

But the real reason is art, not rock.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum chose the four presidents to represent the birth, growth, preservation and expansion of the United States. That was his intent when he created Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Mount Rushmore is a completed piece of art, as far as the National Park Service is concerned. It was created by Gutzon Borglum, not Gutzon Borglum, et. al. Bringing in another sculptor to change the original artwork would be akin to painting the face of Mother Teresa onto Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

Besides, I think there’s growing public sentiment that the granite spires of the Black Hills, shaped by millions of years of wind and water, are beautiful just as they are. I don’t see any more major carving going on anytime soon.