Painful Shutdown

The barricading and closing of national parks and monuments during the government shutdown has led to hundreds of ordinary citizens engaging in the act of “civil disobedience”; something many of them never would have thought of doing in their lifetime, that is until they were prevented from entering national parks, forest service sites, and open-air monuments by barricades, cones, and uniformed guards. Frankly, I can’t say that I blame them. If someone had tried to stop me from visiting the Lincoln Memorial a few years back they probably would have found themselves on the wrong side of a very sharp tongue lashing. Visits to national monuments are a once in a lifetime moment for many people who have perhaps traveled thousands of miles to get there, and once that opportunity has passed it’s gone for good. Does it really make any sense to have to pay uniformed guards to close and patrol open-air monuments and public lands that are leased to private entities that aren’t normally patrolled in the first place? The Obama administration warned Congress that it could, and would, make a government shutdown very painful. Problem is, it’s not being painful for the right people.