“We have to shut the government down in order to see what it does,” is a fictitious quote being jokingly attributed to Congressman Nancy Pelosi. This is a modification of the phrase she babbled referring to Obamacare several years ago, but it fits today’s events in Washington D.C., so it deserves a re-ride. With the shut down, citizens in the flyover country have a great opportunity to see the unbridled power of the monster called the federal government. Our founding fathers warned us this would happen, but like a bunch of teenagers, we had all the answers and ignored their warnings. Recent events reveal the unmerciful raw power the ruling class will levy to force the little people to submit to their wishes. For example, public trust doctrine advocates are about to discover they have been conned by the very emperor they eagerly placed in power. Let me explain.

Common to recreational groups across the west, is the belief federal and state lands, along with their wildlife inhabitants, are owned by the public for their enjoyment. This government created property right is the foundation justifying trespass across private property to reach public lands. The shutdown has turned this public trust doctrine on its ear revealing the public actually owns nothing and the little people in the hinterlands merely serve as pawns in a national game of chess. It is the ruling class in Washington D.C. who dictates access and the activities allowed on federal land—the king’s land. Did you notice while federal lands are closed via presidential decree, his personal golf course remains open?

With fishing access sites to Montana’s Big Horn River, national parks, and many wildlife refuges now closed, recreationists are purposely feeling the sting. If the king can inflict enough pain on enough people plus convince them their misery is the fault of the Republicans, he wins. Marxism wins big! If fully implemented, Obamacare will give the ruling class complete control over the masses with the compassionate doctors of the IRS deciding who lives and who dies. Does that not terrify you? President Ford warned Congress “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” His words are truer today than they were in 1974. I expect the Republicans to eventually compromise and liberty will be checkmated.