Its been a long time since my last post, but college and grades demand my attention. However, this issue is so severe that even they must be put aside for a few moments so that I can put my thoughts on this issue out into the world.
The government has shut down multiple times in the past, but never to this degree. Some functions were cut, but negotiations continued and the lives of many Americans went on relatively unchecked. However, with this current shutdown, the government is not only greatly inconveniencing many Americans, but additionally it is depriving a significant number of their main means of income. By shutting down national forests, parks, trails, and even certain beaches and stretches of ocean, the government is removing revenue and work from those in the tourist business, as, with no tourists around due to the shutdown, their businesses are empty. These people will not receive compensation from the government, and many may lose their jobs and/or businesses as a result.
Additionally, with some of the shut down locations, it actually costs more to keep them shut down than open. A prime example of this would be the shutdown of Florida and Biscayne Bays. They have been made off limits to the charter boats and fishermen who make their living there, as somehow the ocean itself has become "federal property." To keep the docks, waters, and general area free from the fishermen who live there, extra park servicemen had to be called in and the costs are running up to triple what they normally are to keep the bay open. Not only is this gross misspending, but it is a gross over-stepping of national and international law. Per the laws of the United States and the United Nations, the United States of America has the right to natural resources found in the waters off its coast, but cannot prevent the passage of any ships that are not hostile through the waters off its coast without due process.
It leads one to question: from whence does the current administration get its power? What is the purpose of the shutdown, apart from what is akin to a presidential and senatorial hissy-fit?
The answers are, of course, not pleasing to hear. The shut-down is nothing more than a temper tantrum, one which the Democrats are trying to pin on the Republicans for their refusal to raise the debt ceiling and fund the recent health care reform. The government is getting its power to shut down areas which it previously couldn't from thin air, and its power is cemented in the fact that few are challenging it. Content to sit back and let this all play out, the American people are unwittingly granting the government further power and control over their lives, a move which I, for one, believe we will come to regret in the near future. It is only as a people that we can secure our future, and thus we should peacefully resist the shutdown and show the government that this force and control will not be tolerated.
