Well, the federal government has finally achieved something historic — the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Congratulations, Washington! You’ve officially proven that when you stop working, nothing really changes. The sun still rises, the deer still cross the road in front of my truck, and the rest of us somehow manage to keep the Republic running without your glorious paperwork.
Two hundred years ago, Congressman Davy Crockett — yes, that Davy Crockett, the coonskin-cap guy who could shoot straighter than most modern politicians can think — gave a little speech called “Not Yours to Give.” He was scolded by a farmer named Horatio Bunce, who reminded him that the money in the U.S. Treasury does not belong to Congress. It belongs to us. The people who earned it. The ones who still work, pay taxes, and haven’t figured out how to make laziness a career field.
The Original “Shutdown” Was Moral Backbone
When Bunce told Crockett “it’s not yours to give,” he meant that the government had no constitutional right to hand out charity checks — no matter how tear-jerking the cause. Charity was supposed to come from churches, neighbors, and private citizens, not bureaucrats with clipboards and debit cards. Crockett got the message. Congress today wouldn’t. They’d vote themselves a pay raise and then call it “economic stimulus.”
Fast-Forward to Today’s Federal Circus
Now we’re two centuries later, and Washington’s still pretending it’s Santa Claus with a $35 trillion credit card. We’ve created a national nanny state that pays 12% of its population not to work and calls it compassion. Meanwhile, productive citizens are told to “pay their fair share” — which is code for “shut up and fund the votes we’re buying.”
Here’s a wild idea: maybe if we followed Crockett’s advice, the “shutdown” wouldn’t even matter. If the federal government stopped trying to manage every detail of human existence — from your thermostat to your diet — maybe we’d rediscover what government was actually for.
John Locke Already Told Us the Assignment
The purpose of government, Locke said, was to protect our natural rights — life, liberty, and property. Period. Not “life, liberty, and lifetime benefits until the next administration.” When government starts thinking it’s God, it forgets that its power was only borrowed from the governed. Locke believed people formed governments to protect what they already owned, not to redistribute it like raffle prizes at a welfare seminar.
When Everything’s a Right, Nothing Is
We’ve now labeled everything a “human right” — healthcare, housing, Wi-Fi, childcare, gender reassignment surgery for your hamster — until the term means absolutely nothing. Crockett warned us that once Congress started giving away other people’s money, it would never stop. And here we are, two centuries later, with a federal budget so bloated it could qualify as its own ZIP code.
Maybe a Shutdown Is a Blessing
Maybe the “shutdown” isn’t a crisis. Maybe it’s a national detox. Like when you finally take away the toddler’s pacifier and let them scream it out. Washington needs to go cold turkey from its addiction to spending money it didn’t earn. If you want compassion, give from your own wallet. If you want control, run for office. But don’t call your greed “charity.”
Time to Remember Davy
If Davy Crockett were alive today, he’d probably walk into Congress, slap a stack of spending bills on the floor, and growl, “Not yours to give.” Then he’d saddle up, ride home, and fix the economy by actually doing something useful — like hunting dinner.
So let the federal government stay “shut down.” The states can handle their own business, the churches can handle charity, and the rest of us will handle freedom. The Republic doesn’t need a nanny. It just needs a backbone.
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