Words mean things but actions confirm them.
If you’ve read or watched any news at all over the past 4 days you’re aware of the government shutdown. You may even be aware of the reason for the shutdown. But are you aware of what’s actually being shutdown? Furthermore, are you aware of what appears to be a campaign by the federal government to shut down things that are not even funded by the federal government?
That last question is the one I want to focus on. The answer to that question exposes what I believe is motivating the Liberal Progressives in DC including our President to make the shutdown as painful as possible for as long as possible.
The reasoning for such motivation? Their understanding of the media, their control of the mainstream channels, and knowing the media will run with their narrative. A narrative that says it’s all Republican’s fault and the result of the Tea Party take-over of that party.
The hope is a majority of Americans will buy into that premise and turn against the Tea Party.
Ironically a similar strategy was implemented with the sequester, which by all measures didn’t work. The sequester, it turns out, wasn’t the apocalypse Liberals told us it would be.
But back to the desire by some in our federal government to inflict pain and frustration to get their way.
The Atlantic’s Garance Franke-Ruta points to a theory for why the WWII memorial, along with every other open-air monument in Washington’s Mall, has been closed to the public:
It’s called Washington Monument Syndrome. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:
The Washington Monument syndrome, also known as the Mount Rushmore Syndrome, or the firemen first principle, is a political tactic used in the United States by government agencies when faced with budget cuts or a government shutdown. The tactic entails cutting the most visible or appreciated service provided by the government, from popular services such as national parks and libraries to valued public employees such as teachers and firefighters…. The name derives from the National Park Service’s alleged habit of saying that any cuts would lead to an immediate closure of the wildly popular Washington Monument. [Wikipedia]
Political brinksmanship. Period.
I’m still waiting for the names of whoever gave the order to barricade the memorial knowing daily tours of the last remaining WWII vets would be coming to THEIR memorial and knowing the pain not being able to enter it would bring. All to muster political leverage against their conservative opponents.
Next there’s Wisconsin. The National Parks Service told Wisconsin to shut down its state parks even though they were not directly funded by the federal government.
Why?
To make a point and make the shutdown bigger and more painful.
These actions speak loud and clear to the political games being played by an administration that cares more about its power and control over everything in this country than it does the general welfare of the people who live in it.
To be sure both parties in the two-party system share the blame for this shutdown, but while the Liberal side is using brinksmanship and propaganda to forward a political goal while their conservative counterparts are passing bills to fund as much of the government as they can while hoping to bring the gamers over to the negotiation table for a serious discussion about the Affordable Care Act.
So far Harry Reid has pretty much given the finger to anyone who even mentions Obamacare and our president has made it clear
he lives in a no negotiation zone.
Link the actions with the words and see who the real obstructionists and party of NO is right now.