Politics & Power Quote by Don Sherwood

“Lock up” is doing the heavy lifting here: it turns a policy dispute into a moral drama, with villains, victims, and a stolen birthright. Don Sherwood isn’t arguing over land management minutiae; he’s staging a populist confrontation between “the public” and an unnamed “certain group” allegedly hoarding what belongs to everyone. The phrasing is strategic vagueness. By refusing to specify who this group is - federal agencies, environmental advocates, local opponents, bureaucrats - the line invites listeners to plug in their preferred antagonist. That’s how it travels: it’s less a claim than a frame.

The genius (and risk) of the rhetoric is that it flips the usual conservation story. Instead of parks being protected so they can be enjoyed, protection becomes exclusion. “National treasures” and “cherished places” are emotional assets; once invoked, any restriction can be recast as theft. It’s a classic move in Western land politics: access (roads, drilling, grazing, recreation) becomes synonymous with freedom, while regulation becomes elite control.

Context matters: Sherwood, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, spoke during an era when fights over federal land rules, resource extraction, and environmental regulation were increasingly packaged as culture-war grievances. The line is calibrated for that moment: it doesn’t need data, only a sense that something beloved is being withheld. Subtext: government isn’t stewarding the commons; it’s gatekeeping it. And if that’s true, then loosening rules isn’t exploitation - it’s liberation.