The Government Shutdown and the Dystopian Future

The current state of American politics is like something out of a science fiction novel, and not a particularly good one at that. I can almost see a down on his luck writer sitting in the SciFi Network offices pitching this story about how one day the United States government collapsed because they just couldn't get along anymore. The entire point of politics became too much about figuring out which side was more to blame than getting anything done and then nothing got done and before you knew it mountain lions were roaming the streets of Washington DC. In real life there is allegedly a mountain lion roaming the streets of DC.

This is a great symbol for the current state of things as the biggest aspect of the government shutdown so far is that national parks are closed. That means the government has deemed the Grand Canyon closed. Think about for a second. The Grand Canyon is closed. Bull fucking shit it is. The Grand Canyon is huge. private helicopters can still fly over it so people can see it and I am sure hikers could get past whatever flimsy barriers the government has put up. If they really wanted to close national parks they would fill in the Grand Canyon with concrete. Maybe put a strip mall on top of it. Tarp over the waterfall in Yosemite and put a cork in Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Now that is a real shutdown.



But the government can't shutdown nature. The Prince William Forest Park is the closest nature national park to me. I almost want to go there and ask the birds if they know they are shutdown. Listen to them sing and then act confused as to how normal they sound because they apparently didn't get the memo that the government has disallowed the use of this park. I want to go and watch the streams flow through the park unaware that the governance of man has said they don't exist. They are closed and furloughed and should go home. Rejoin the clouds and rain on some other country to be a stream their because our national parks are victims of the government shutdown.

It is so strange to think about man saying that nature is closed, but this does create opportunity. If this were a true science fiction story the volcano under Yellowstone would erupt reminding man who is really in charge of this planet and their arrogance at claiming nature is shutdown has doomed them. It is even arrogant to say the parks that aren't nature are shutdown. Think about the Washington Monument for a second. It is shutdown, but people already couldn't visit it due to construction, but everyone can still see it from the highways and roads throughout DC. The Lincoln Memorial has a barrier in front of it but it is still there. Anyone that walks by it can look at it, but it is shutdown.

That would be the next phase of this story, before the natural disasters. The government would blind all the citizens of the United States to keep them from looking at the national parks they couldn't cover up, because they are shutdown, and therefore cannot be enjoyed in any manner. After all the citizens are blind war would erupt as the remaining members of the Lakota nation move in the reclaim the Black Hills as by declaring them shutdown the government has said they don't want them anymore, and so they are available for the Lakota to retake them.

Of course the government would see this as an offense because this is their land to do with as they wish and if they wish for nature to be shutdown then it will be shutdown. As soon as the major war starts nature will intervene with a giant disaster and all that will be left of the United States are blind disfigured creatures, the symbol of the modern government of the United States.

Somewhere along the way our leaders forget the point of leadership is to lead and they are now caught in this giant stare down of trench digging and finger pointing and they won't even come to the table to have a discussion. They are completely unwilling to engage in the democratic process and lead this country on any path. The only paths they want our their own and if someone disagrees with them then they are more than fine with blowing the whole thing up. The American government has closed nature, and in more than a few ways that is the perfect symbol for the arrogance of the current American government.

The Shutdown

A mountain lion roams

the streets of the capital.

Barriers block the path

to national monuments.

Those elected to govern

dig their trenches and

set their stares.

They have more than

forgotten their purpose.

Unwilling to

start the discussion.

Instead they point fingers and

sling blame across the aisle.

The mountain lion roams free.

Barriers mean nothing.

The only permission it requires

is survival, a reminder

of a primitive noble past.

Man living in small communities

everyone having a purpose.

Roaming across the land

eating only what can be

caught, captured, or gathered.