Shutdown insanity: Jogger fined $100 for exercising at Valley Forge National Park

Wednesday, October 09, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: government shutdown, jogger, punitive fine

(NaturalNews) Don't look now, folks, but your country is slowly, quietly - but surely - slipping away from you as it is increasingly being governed by a punitive, capricious ruling class who despises you and seeks to punish you at every turn, just to keep you in line.

As the partial federal government shutdown stretches into its first week, it is becoming more and more obvious that President Obama is using the massive Bureaucratic State as a fourth branch of government to exert his will and influence over as much of the country as possible.

Paying the price of tyranny

Consider this report by CBSPhiladelphia as the latest exhibit of tyranny:

A marathoner says he was fined $100 for running in Valley Forge National Historical Park during the government shutdown.

John Bell, a 56-year-old realtor, said he parked his car on Sunday in a remote parking lot, not one blocked by a barrier.

Bell, of Chadds Ford, has competed in a marathon on every continent of the world, but one of his favorite places to run is Valley Forge.

"From a safety standpoint, I like running down there, along with the scenery," he says.

Nevertheless, he says when he took his run recently a pair of two Park Rangers were waiting for him with their car lights flashing when he returned. For the high crime of disobeying the Great Obama, Bell was hit with a $100 citation.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Bell said he knew many of the national landmarks had been shuttered, with the government shutdown cited as the reason, but he didn't think Valley Forge would be affected. And with good reason: much of the land within the park is privately owned.

"I'm not putting together that [the park is] closed. Even if it was, I'd be thinking, 'Oh, they're just closing the visitor center,'" he said.

What's more, Bell says a number of other runners and bikers were in the park. He says he plans to fight the ticket in federal court. His lawyer, Jeremy Ibrahim, agrees that he should.

"Washington may have shut down the government, but due process is not shut down," Ibrahim told AP.

See how big and intrusive the federal government has become?

One irony that Ibrahim sees in all this is the disagreement in Congress over Obamacare. "Yet we tell folks that we should all be healthy, we all should go online and sign up. He goes outside, does some running and gets a ticket for it," says Ibrahim.

Others agree that Bell should be fighting this.

"I believe he should fight it; it's kind of a ridiculous scenario. Maybe the judge or whoever is in charge will see he was just using the land his tax dollars paid for," Mike Festa, a supporting cyclist, told the AP.

As more of this insanity plays out, more Americans will discover why the federal government's role in our lives should be substantially curbed. When ordinary activities on taxpayer-owned lands are fined or when it becomes impossible to earn a living because a petulant tyrant in the White House uses the power of the federal government to "shut down" your earning potential, the government has simply grown too intrusive and too large.

Sources:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com

http://www.philly.com

http://blog.pennlive.com