when you add a federal closure, houck can it possibly open the national parks across the country?host: let's hear what congressman mark sanford had to say recently talking about this shut down compared to the last time. [video clip] somet turns out there are things i did not know about the lincoln memorial. i asked a tourist to take a picture and it's an amazing picture of the lincoln memorial without people. it has always been a place for people. i did not realize that in the last government shutdown, president clinton elected not to close down the lincoln memorial. had been realize there 17 shutdowns in this country since 1976 and not one president elected to close down the lincoln memorial. ford,eans president president carter, president reagan, president bush and president clinton each, when given the discretion in how they would handle a shutdown, chose not to hold americans hostage in somehow gaining political favor by a shutdown that would hurt them on their tour to washington, dc what i came to learn is that in the history of the american republic, the lincoln memorial has