With the government shutdown apparently coming to a close (and too bad…the longer it stayed shuttered, the more Americans could see how easy it is to get by with less government), it is important to take a look at the tactics used by the Obama administration to force Republicans, and the American people, into submission.

Fearful that the two week shutdown was landing with the same thud that his predictions of a sequester-driven disaster had been met with, Obama had to make sure that the American people felt as much pain as possible so that they would demand more and more government intrusion in our lives, and ignore the crushing debt that grows unabated by billions of dollars every single day.

Obama, channeling his inner tin-pot dictator, sent out an army of bureaucrats and executive branch agents to bring life in America to as much of a halt as possible. Threatening WWII vets with arrest, throwing the elderly out of their homes, closing private businesses…nothing was beneath these jackbooted thugs. Here, in no particular order, is a partial list of the many stories of Obama administration thuggery during the shutdown:

— Families of fallen soldiers denied death benefits, which were funded by defense appropriations bill Republicans in House passed over the summer (Democrats refused to vote on the bill)

— Obama tries to shut down Navy-Air Force football game before discovering it is privately funded

— Grocery stores on military bases closed, but Obama’s golf course at Camp David remains open

— Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets $445 million despite shutdown, funding cut for NIH and cancer treatment (Democrats refused to vote on “mini-CR” that would have funded it)

— Obama’s tyrannical administration forbids Catholic chaplains from performing Mass on military installations, ostensibly because of the shutdown, and have threatened to arrest priests that perform Mass, even when they have volunteered to do so for free.

— Park Service police try to shut down Mount Vernon but told it is privately funded, so they shut down the parking lot instead, which is jointly owned by the feds

— National Park Service shuts down national parks and monuments, even open-air memorials where there is usually no, or part-time, patrols and then when people just walked around the barricades, Obama had the Park Service REMOVE THE HANDLES from all of the drinking fountains

— The world-famous Miranmar Air Show was cancelled, despite the fact that is turns a large profit each year -

— Obama has the Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty, Yosemite National Park, and the Smithsonian Institute closed to visitors

— Elderly couple, Joyce (77 years old) and Ralph Spencer (80 years old), were forced out of their home by armed park rangers supposedly because of the shutdown, even though they own their cabin, which sits on federal land. Park Rangers came and told them they must leave their home within 24 hours, and could not go back until the shutdown ended

— The traditional Air Force Academy graduation flyover by the Thunderbirds close-formation, precision flying team was cancelled by Obama; luckily, private pilots flying WWII-ear planes stepped in and performed the flights

— National Park Rangers were told to keep visitors out of private businesses during shutdown

— Obama tells the Social Security Administration to scare the elderly into thinking they won’t get their Social Security checks

— Obama closes the Grand Canyon, refuses Arizona’s offer to pay to keep it open

— Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuses GOP offer to fund NIH to help kids with cancer

— Senior Obama staffer admits they don’t care how long the shutdown lasts because “we’re winning”

— Obama administration shuts down the Amber Alert website, which helps locate missing children -

— The federal government forces a private inn on federal land to close, even though the road it sits on is open for traffic; when the innkeeper defied them and reopened, park rangers were there in less than two hours with flashing lights, blocking the entrance with their cars and turning patrons away. Normal operations of the inn require nothing from the government, so sending rangers out to force the business to shut down actually COSTS the government money and manpower -

— Elderly tourists to Yellowstone National Park were met by the National Park Service GESTAPO and were locked in their hotel under ARMED GUARD! Foreign tourists who spoke little or no English were terrified, thinking that they were under arrest. When they were finally released, they were not allowed to stop at PRIVATE bathrooms during the 2.5 hour drive out of the park (the owner of the private ranch had already agreed to allow the tourists to use his bathrooms, but he was told that his BUSINESS LICENSE WOULD BE REVOKED if he allowed them to stop)!

— Park Cops barricaded Old Faithful before each eruption to keep people from watching

— Illegal immigration rally okayed on the National Mall during shutdown, after WWII veterans threatened with arrest for trying to visit their memorial

There can no longer be any doubt whatsoever of what Obama’s vision for America is…a socialist welfare state where government is king, citizens are serfs, and dissent is crushed in its infancy.

Obama despises the Constitution, rejects the separation of powers that bind a president’s actions, and challenge Republicans to stop his unconstitutional actions (which they have largely failed to do). May God help us all if we do not rise up against these thuggish tactics and unconstitutional usurpation of power, and may we once again awaken to the danger facing us, and take up the mantel of liberty bequeathed by our Founding Fathers.