...Folk. The government shutdown continues into it's second week, and the Obama administration's attempts at punishing the United States citizenry for aiding and abetting the opposition are still a work. However, the facade of the unified liberal opposition is starting to crack. Check out this piece at the usually reliably liberal Buzzfeed:
Victory at the Claude Moore Colonial Farm — National Park Service Allows the Farm to Open
In an update on the plight of Claude Moore Colonial Farm, which has been closed by the partial government shutdown, Managing Director Anna Eberly says that the National Park Service barrycaded her and her staff inside the farm today. But then, suddenly, the rangers relented.
“We have good news for you at last!” Eberly says. “The NPS has reversed their decision to close the Farm and we will be open [Wednesday] as usual. You can now visit the 18th century Farm, come to the Book Shop tomorrow afternoon, participate in Farm Skills on Thursday and have picnics at The Pavilions again. And all of our volunteers are welcome to come back ‘home’.”
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm exists on federal land but has not received any federal funding for more than 30 years. It funds itself on its own activities. Octobers is its busiest month of the year, but the shutdown has rendered it closed for more than a week. The farm was open during all previous shutdowns, and needs no federal employees for staffing or any other service. It even depends on local police for security.
But perhaps the time has come to accept that the Obama Administration is going to act like a five year old taking the toys away from a baby in order to assert its authority over it, and to dissect that action. I offer you the best I've seen, the Ace of Spades on an amazing rant:
Yellowstone Park Goon Squads, Media Ignorance, and Media Ideology
For a factual predicate, let's turn to the Park Service's behavior at Yellowstone Park, where Park Service outlaws (and they are outside the law) blocked the views of Old Faithful with SUVs, to prevent tourists (with a right to be on the property) from having the enjoyment of simply looking at Old Faithful.Oh, yes, he's also whacking the media at the same time for their abysmal ignorance and partisan, leanings, but I'm cutting most of that out of my excerpts emphasize the legal argument.
Do they have the legal right to do this? No. The media doesn't understand this, however, as they're ignorant. Because they are ignorant of the law, their ignorance serves to permit their ideology and partisan rooting interest to make the call on this behavior, and deem it normal and acceptable.
99% of all property in America is owned according to what I'll call "unified ownership interest," even though that's a term I just made up. Starbucks owns its shops (and let's put aside the fact that they lease much of their space; a lease is not a full ownership interest, but during the period of the lease, the lessee has virtually all rights associated with ownership, so long as he satisfies his obligations per the contract of lease).
This "unified ownership interest" is so common that many people think it's the only form of ownership. But in fact 1% of property (caveat: I'm just guessing at numbers here; I doubt there's an actual study that pins this down) is not held in such a "unified ownership interest."
It's held in trust. And the owner of record is not the beneficial owner. The legal owner is not the same as the owner who is to enjoy the benefits flowing from ownership.
And you guessed it, in this case, the Federal Government is the legal owner, but the citizens of the United States are the beneficial owners, depending on the Federal Government to utilize the property their best interests.
But when an owner-of-record attempts to leverage property he only "owns" as a nominal owner in order to benefit himself --and not the trust, and not the beneficiary of the trust -- using the assets of the trust, it's criminal conduct.
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The Park Service -- the Interior Department -- is in fact the owner-of-record of these public spaces. They are legally entitled and obligated to manage these spaces... but as a trustee, as an owner of record, acting for the actual benefit of the true owner of the property, which is itself, of course, the American public.
If the Park Service actually was both owner-of-record and beneficial owner, they would have unified rights in this regard, and could act on whim and out of obvious self-dealing personal interest (in as much as all Government Workers would like to maximize pressure on Taxpayers to extract money from them), and that would all be legal.
Annoying and horrible, but legal.
Here are some other things a trustee cannot do:Another editorial, by Ed Morrissey
He cannot attempt to exert pressure on the beneficiary of the trustee by denying him the enjoyment of the property held in trust (except to the extent that is spelled out in the instrument establishing the trust).
He cannot harm the beneficiary of the trust to "Teach the beneficiary a lesson" about the Important Work the trustee does.
He cannot blockade the property of the trust to put political pressure on a political party he doesn't favor.
He cannot use the property of the trust for his own benefit and enjoyment.
He cannot capriciously decide that the beneficiary of the trust shall not have the natural rights of enjoyment of the trust, just because he's Mad at the Beneficiary.
And he definitely, definitely may not block the beneficiary from enjoying the property held in his name to coerce the beneficiary to pay him more for his services as trustee, or to give more freely to charities the trustee favors.
Obama does not own the military, the government, or the national parks, media. Obama instead is the trustee of these things -- but is required to oversee them for the benefit of their true owners, the American People.
How Federal Workers Became Obama’s Private Army
Seventy-four years later, the civil-service system has been exposed as a failure – at least in this administration. Instead of an independent workforce of professionals who implement federal regulation in an even-handed and competent manner, we have returned to the era of partisan retribution and politically-motivated malevolence.
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Unknown at the time but reported this week, the National Parks Service chased down a group of senior citizens at Yellowstone National Park when the shutdown commenced on October 1st. After informing the busload of tourists, some of whom were tourists from other countries, that the park was no longer accessible, the rangers locked them into a closed hotel for several hours with armed guards posted at the exits. When finally allowed to get back on the bus and leave Yellowstone, rangers stopped the tourists from pausing to take pictures, chasing after them for “recreating.”
That arguably constitutes kidnapping or false arrest, especially conducted under color of authority for no other reason than to score political points in the shutdown. One of the tourists called it “Gestapo tactics,” and an NPS ranger anonymously confirmed this as a deliberate strategy by NPS. “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can,” the anonymous ranger told The Washington Times. “It’s disgusting.”
It certainly is, and it’s part of a disturbing pattern emerging in the second term of Barack Obama. When law enforcement and tax enforcement become rankly political, Americans can no longer trust in their federal government, even when it’s not shut down – and that won’t stop after Obama leaves office, either. We are getting a clear lesson on the risks of larger government and regulatory overreach, and those risks go far beyond incompetence. Let’s hope this serves as a wake-up call – and let’s demand that Congress hold those accountable in the IRS and National Parks Service for their uncivil service.
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