we have guns!
This weekend a scofflaw gathered some gunmen and drove off some federal agents who were trying to confiscate his property. Rightbloggers approved for several reasons. For one, the scofflaw is a rancher, just like Ronald Reagan; for another, there is an environmental angle, which always makes them mad, and a Harry Reid angle, which makes them apoplectic; and perhaps most importantly, the scofflaw refuses to acknowledge the authority of the federal government, which puts him right in the emerging mainstream of conservative doctrine. Cliven Bundy has a cattle ranch in Nevada, which has been in his family since the 19th Century. His cattle graze on government land, for which ranchers traditional pay government fees. But Bundy hasn't paid his fees since 1993, after the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took over collection from Clark County, with Bundy "arguing in court," per the Los Angeles Times, "that his Mormon ancestors worked the land long before the BLM was formed, giving him rights that predate federal involvement." (Supporters argue in a widely-circulated pic that "Bundy doesn't object to the fees, but does object to giving it to the Federal Government... he, therefore, has offered to pay the state, but they have continuously refused to take his money.") The situation escalated in recent days when the feds, armed with a court order, took a more aggressive approach to collecting. In one incident Bundy's son was tasered, and the government set up "First Amendment Areas" to pen off protesters. (This elicited much complaint from the brethren, whose civil liberties concerns back in the days of "Don't Tase Me Bro" jokes and the free speech zones of the 2004 Democratic and Republican Conventions we somehow missed.)
 | | Occupy? Get out of here with that shit! The Bundy Ranch ain't no Occupy -- we have guns! (Via.) |
Bundy then gathered a posse of supporters, including armed members of militia groups, to prevent agents from seizing his cattle. On Saturday the BLM agents left the area, pleading public safety. So Bundy, who had compared the standoff to Waco and Ruby Ridge, lives to wage war on the United States Government another day.It seems unlikely that the feds will just let this go, but until the (hopefully less dramatic) resolution of the case, many rightbloggers are celebrating the capitulation as a blow against their new idea of an Evil Empire, namely their own country. Some explained that Bundy's cause was just because the government was doing the bidding of corrupt actors such as Harry Reid and environmentalists. The environmentalists came in for abuse because BLM curtailed Bundy's grazing rights in 1993 to protect the desert tortoise. After 20 years you'd think the statute of outrage limitations would have run out on this, but if you've ever heard a rightblogger grumble about snail darters, you can imagine what they made of it. "Why is the government trying to get him to quit the land?" cried Warner Todd Huston at Wizbang. "Because the government claims that with his cattle Bundy is harming the environment for the purportedly 'endangered' desert tortoise." "Who in the world threatens people with violence and takes their property for a tortoise? Liberals," riddled Prairie Pundit. "Using Snipers To Protect A Tortoise," sneered David Blackmon at Forbes. "...the obvious conclusion is that BLM rendered its absurd decision with the clear expectation of running the Bundys off the land entirely." "For those who want to stop by and tell me that it's not about the desert tortoise, it's about unpaid fees by the Bundy's, I will respond that Nevada land is considered government land because the desert tortoise resides there," said Maggie's Notebook. Now, who can argue with that?
| 
