Ronald Reagan - Wikiquote: "Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free."
I was reminded of this quote as I was reading these stories on Instapundit.com about the national parks and monuments and even graveyards overseas being shutdown, even when they were open without gates around them, even when they were more expensive to shut than to keep open, even when they were primarily owned by the states, even when they were privately owned and funded, they had to be shut down. They even threw an 80 and 77 year old couple out of their privately owned residence because it was on Federal land. Next thing they will shut down the Federal Highway system--wait, no one tell Obama the Feds own that!
Later on TV I heard a defender of the administration saying, "Well, when the Republicans shut the government shuts down, the government shuts down." It was as if the people needed to be taught a lesson, that when they don't give the government its money they have to suffer for it. It is as if the government thinks of our monuments as theirs and that we, we selfish tax payers, have to go along with the government's spending plans to earn the privilege of seeing them. It doesn't matter that most of these monuments, like the WWII Veteran's Memorial or the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial were paid for by private donations. They are now the government's and the people must make their unruly representatives behave to be allowed to see them. The administration really behaves like a Chicago Political Boss, leaving a neighborhood's potholes un-repaired in retaliation for electing someone not endorsed by the Machine.
I was reminded of this quote as I was reading these stories on Instapundit.com about the national parks and monuments and even graveyards overseas being shutdown, even when they were open without gates around them, even when they were more expensive to shut than to keep open, even when they were primarily owned by the states, even when they were privately owned and funded, they had to be shut down. They even threw an 80 and 77 year old couple out of their privately owned residence because it was on Federal land. Next thing they will shut down the Federal Highway system--wait, no one tell Obama the Feds own that!
Later on TV I heard a defender of the administration saying, "Well, when the Republicans shut the government shuts down, the government shuts down." It was as if the people needed to be taught a lesson, that when they don't give the government its money they have to suffer for it. It is as if the government thinks of our monuments as theirs and that we, we selfish tax payers, have to go along with the government's spending plans to earn the privilege of seeing them. It doesn't matter that most of these monuments, like the WWII Veteran's Memorial or the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial were paid for by private donations. They are now the government's and the people must make their unruly representatives behave to be allowed to see them. The administration really behaves like a Chicago Political Boss, leaving a neighborhood's potholes un-repaired in retaliation for electing someone not endorsed by the Machine.
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