Four lessons from the Bundys' misadventure

[struggle4progress]

February 02, 2016, 07:30 am
By Erik Molvar

... Some ranchers think they have a right to degrade public lands ... Steve and Dwight Hammond were imprisoned for twice setting fires on federal lands ... But a decade earlier, these same two ranchers hit the public spotlight when they cut fences and threatened federal officials at Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge. Their "worthy cause"? Preventing federal officials from protecting sensitive wetlands on the refuge ...

An extremist fringe wants to seize our public lands. The Bundy gang is simply the most militant expression of a political push in the West to take our public lands, which goes so far as to challenge the legality of the federal government to own property on behalf of all Americans. This effort includes laws passed in state legislatures in Utah and Wyoming to study state takeovers of federal public land. And in Congress, the land-grabbers are also pushing legislation to privatize Western public lands ...

A new mandate has emerged for public lands protection. The Bundys clearly thought they would be welcomed as liberators in eastern Oregon. Instead, they got a chorus of "go home!" ... The land-grab movement .. aims to .. trample the rights of all Americans by shifting control of federal public lands into the hands of .. groups that represent exclusively local interests ...

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/267772-4-lessons-from-the-bundys-oregon-misadventure

[Warpy]

1. The last point is a good one

but it should have added that if Cliven Bundy had been arrested as soon as he felt safe enough to appear in public without his goon squad to protect him, this fiasco would likely never have happened.

That man made millions by refusing to pay the rent and by putting stress on marginal land by ignoring the rules. His millions were robbed from the taxpayers who had to make up the difference. Crime should not pay.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Great example of what can and will happen when

Local and State Politicians with a extremist agenda join forces with a Extremist Group for their betterment. Notice how the Rethug Organ of We report you decide,put a muzzle on some of their Talent's. Once the real thinking public found Local Politico's and there operatives were playing them like a fiddle,they light up the Social Media with their discuss.

Funny how the wealthy use the ignorant to do their dirty work. It is the model that works.