In the midst of your political spats and machinations, closing down national monuments, threatening to arrest veterans, forcing people out of private homes because those homes are on federal land, and barricading national parks to force your way, pay very close attention to the choices you make, because you are badly overstepping your bounds.

You may think that you are in power to advance your standing, your party, or your ideology.  Not so.  It’s called “civil service” because it is supposed to be an act of service to the people, not an act of self-interest or self-preservation.  Anytime you put something else ahead of the best interests of the people, you are out of line, and you need to course-correct or resign your post.

Let me re-establish a few things which you seem to have forgotten:

1. You exist by the leave of the People of the United States.  Turn to the first paragraph of the Constitution, and consider once again that We the People established you.  We can also remove you.
2. Government-owned land is really just land which the people have entrusted to your care.  There are good reasons why we entrust certain things to you to oversee, but don’t forget that in this country, you are simply trustees acting on our behalf.
3. Anytime you think that this country is yours to do with as you please, you are violating your duty and the trust we place in you.  Anytime you act out of something other than love for our country and humility toward the people, you are out of line.

To the Democrats, I say this:  Everyone knows that the current dispute is over the funding of ObamaCare.  Do the right thing and ditch it.  America hates it, Congress and the IRS don’t want to be subjected to it, and the Government has proven itself far too incompetent to be able to manage our healthcare.  Admit defeat in this, and regain a bit of our trust.  The only really big thing that the government handles well is the military, but that’s probably because the military is so full of people who love the United States and are willing to serve it.

I note, with deep annoyance, that the Senate is not taking calls from constituents, the government shutdown serving as a pretext.  The Senate has failed to do its job, has chosen to side against the will of the American people, and now refuses to hear about it.  I dare say that the right of the people to contact their representatives is an essential government service.  What on earth are the representatives doing, if not available to represent their constituents?