This isn't about cattle or who owns the land. It's not even about Cliven Bundy.
It's about one man acting in ways that says YOU and the "American People" and their corrupt government are losing their power to control one man and his family.
"Free" society doesn't like such disobedience.
The truth is the American experiment is dying... just as surely as the prospect of Freedom is dying in those soviet republics now being reconquered by Putin... with the world drawing line after meaningless line...
That carries the echoes of Chamberlain and Hitler... "Peace in our Time"...
Now we bring that same sort of arrogance home to a small corner of Nevada... and one man standing against corruption, malfeasance and a political order that sees people as cattle... and NOT the free people they like to fantasize themselves as being.
Sure, you can run about and spout your ideas... as long as you stand within the "Free Speech area"... move out of that and you are tased and beaten... You are only permitted to speak your mind in approved ways. Step out of those approved ways and your ideas won't be questioned or debated...
YOU will be personally demonized. YOU will be shouted down and YOU will be crushed under the weight of obedient Sheeple. Your ideas will be buried under the volume of the personal assault... and THAT is the intention.
Let a man like Bundy stand up against your corrupt and cannibalistic masters in D.C. ... and the good little serfs who complain day after day of the actions of those same corrupt parasites will be the FIRST to line up and shout what a vile and selfish person he is... because he's not "Paying his fair share"... Paying to who? Them?
And those saying he was damaging the land? Endangering a freaking tortoise? What do those hypocrites and liars do? They tear out the water tanks and the water lines put in by that "damaging rancher" that made that land even habitable for wildlife...
You know what Jim Bridger and those mountain men found throughout much of the west? NOTHING. That's right. A very great part of Nevada, Utah, Arizona... all across the west was uninhabitable by deer, coyotes, birds... just about anything... because there was NO WATER...
But there is water you say? There are stock ponds and wells...
Who put in that water? The forest service? The BLM? ANY Federal agency? No. It was THE RANCHER. and not with their Fees. They did the work directly (above and beyond the "Fees"). The fees just flow back to D.C. to pay for Congressmen's pensions.
...and then all the people reviling the actions of men like Bundy scream that he's not paying his fair share... because the federal mordida hasn't been paid.
The ranchers did the work. They drilled the wells, dug the ponds and tanks. Ran thousands of miles of water lines so their cattle could utilize the land...
... and WHO or WHAT benefited? The Wildlife that could now ALSO utilize that land... and YOU who had the lowest cost of food of any "developed" society on earth... due to the improvements sweated, bled and PAID FOR by the Ranchers and Farmers who put them in On Their Nickle.
It was the Ranchers... not the sierra club, wilderness society or friends of the earth. It was the Ranchers who have spent their lives nurturing the land with their sweat, their blood and their hearts.
Now, in reward for generations of hard work nurturing and improving the land while running against the federal wind... they are run off it at gunpoint.
You always hear the fabricated claims of overgrazing...and how they do it for generations... except for a tiny, little, ignored fact of physics... Ranchers who overgraze - Don't last. It's a mathematical equation. The land is an unmerciful mistress. If you don't live with it in sustainable ways... She will crush you. The only way a Rancher can remain in business, is to nurture the land with care and wisdom... but care and wisdom is a foreign idea to government.
Government is Only concerned with power and the obedience of the ruled.
When the metal meets the meat... there are only 3% who are going to stand with the likes of Bundy. The rest, the Sheeple, are going to sit quiet (when they aren't bleating obediently to their masters; "There's one! There's one! Get him!) and wait to see which way they are to be herded.
Baaaa Baaaa Baaaaa...
You wonder how the Germans did what they did to as many? You are watching it!
Don't like my language and my ideas... Tough.
Brian
A broken down Ol' Cowboy goin' RV Boondocking ...
...and Yondering, to the beat of a different Biker Cowboy Drummer
19 comments:
I'm on Bundy's side. I agree with you that he is taking care of the land. I dont own a TV so have just caught bits of the story on the web. I read that the goverment had spent over a million dollars so far trying to run him and the cattle off the land. That is a stupid waste of money.
Standing ovation .... great post ... from a retired vet.
Truth. Thank you.
But is it really just "one man standing against corruption, malfeasance and a political order that sees people as cattle..." etc etc. Is it really that black and white? How can you be so sure? You can't, although you won't admit it know that there isn't more to it, and you must know that there are many people who in the past you would respect who disagree with Bundy's position.
I don't know much about this or similar cases, and I'll admit that in this case you might be right to some extent at least, about Bundy. But this "all-or nothing", "for me or agin me", absolutist totally uncompromising position is not convincing to people like me (or I suppose that according to you I'm a sheeple) who don't buy into every conspiracy theory and reactionary ideological extremism that sometimes tries to be passed off as "independent thought".
You are an interesting guy, Brian, and I strongly agree with about 30% of what you say, and strongly disagree with most of the rest. I'll keep reading your thought-provoking pieces, but just wanted to let you know that at least one of your readers thinks you need to bear in mind that a man taking a stand against the government is not automatically in the right, and taking a stand while in the wrong does a lot of damage to the cause of those who oppose government corruption etc.
I am glad you wrote this blog piece...I knew you would...it helps to keep you from 'bursting'...takes me back...'baa baa baa' and 'so there' were perfect words to state your case in the end....I feel I know you better now. :D
"A Bit of Truth" is a good title. Your blog is certainly not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
More like the Fox "News" version.
Ed
Fox News has a 'version'??? LOL LOL (its called faux news) LOL
Good post Mr. Gore!
Mike; You've known me a long time, and that those things I spoke of twenty five years ago are coming to pass.
Sadly, in the responses to this piece is a microcosm of the country.
For those with eyes to see and ears to hear the separation in this nation has widened to the point that it is irreparable.
The echoes of the years Prior to 1775 and 1861 are now reverberating across this land...
...and all people can do is ridicule and denigrate any who would pursue liberty, and defile the character of any who would resist the grasping arrogance of a government without Honor.
Good post Brian. It is certainly interesting the variety of comment. While the legality of Bundy's position is probably debatable, the most important aspect of the situation was illustrated today by Harry Reid labeling the ranchers as "domestic terrorists". Viewing the video footage should convince most people that the "terrorist" labeling and the armed government response are clearly the actions of a fascist government, not a government of laws and courts. If grazing fees were really the issue, then a court judgment and its resulting lien on the Bundy's property would have been the end of the story. We definitely need to reign-in this out of control government. Let's hope elections will accomplish it.
Howdy Mr Gore;
Wow, it really was 25+ years ago that we discussed such things, and yes the things we spoke of are coming to pass. The saddest part is that many people have no idea of the liberties that have been stolen from them and they are happy to pretend that such liberties never existed and and are simply the ranting of old fools. I fear a civil war is coming and there will be no winners.
Mike O'Brien-What liberties do you believe have been stolen, and who stole them, and if the civil war that you see coming, who is going to fight whom?
Paul
Mike; Sadly I can not but let the tears flow in agreement. In war there are only losers, and catastrophic losers.
To Paul and to all who ask the question; "What liberties have been stolen and who stole them" I must answer; Mike need not explain. If at this late date the Freedoms lost can not be seen, and the thief not known... then any effort at explanation shall fall upon eyes unable or unwilling to see, ears unable... or... unwilling to hear... and minds unable or unwilling to understand.
Sadly, the divisions have grown so deep and so visceral as to close out any willingness to see. Only the lust to defend the proscribed agenda remains.
The great faults of human nature are at work... and we shall see the repetition of history.
The majority has chosen to attempt to impose it's "Interests" as superior to the Rights of the lesser individuals and groups. The consequence, as history has demonstrated throughout ALL history... is strife.
To understand who? Think of this analogy... The Lebanonization of America. There are so many factions... the future holds utter chaos.
Politicians in their egotistical efforts at playing one group off against another in pursuit of their power have so fractured American society that to name all the factions and sub-factions would take a book.
NO ONE... is working in CO-Operation... with ANYONE.
The entire Nation is consumed with divisive, hateful efforts to impose their beliefs on Everyone else. When in reality, Liberty means if I want to NOT hire a jew, a black man, a white man, an oriental, a mexican, a gay, a straight or a three legged gay liberal aborigine... THAT is my human RIGHT.
But RIGHTS are now Proscribed...rather than a "FEW" being enumerated... because the illiterate in this Nation Can Not only not Read, they cannot Comprehend the Meaning of the Words contained in the Declaration of Independence.
So... to understand myself and Mike... find and read the words of Patrick Henry.
Hi Paul;
Brian provided your answers more eloquently than I could.
What if Bundy drilled wells, set up an irrigation system and was growing pot? Would that be okay?
He didn't. He raised cattle. Like his family has done on that land for 140 years. What was done/is being done is a simple land grab.
The OTHER 52 ranchers that had been on that land had their Grazing Rights bought out by the BLM. For those unaware, Grazing rights are marketable Assets/Property that are SOLD with a ranch.
Bundy Refused to sell... and so they have been coming after him. Much like the Land grabs in the "western stories"... "Sell out or I'll burn you out" ... only this is not fiction. It is REAL life.
So sad that what you have written is the truth and so very sad that most do not understand that truth.
Land grab? What about the land grab that Bundy's folks and others like him did to the American Indians. I guess the Bill of Rights didn't apply to them. Ranchers and farmers are no better or worse than anyone else. Brian, your perspective is obviously influenced by your ranching life. I do agree that the politicians are bought and paid for and it's only getting worse with this Supreme Court.
Dennis; I have never walked away from admitting, and SAYING the FACT that the United States is built on Stolen Land.
But... then let's look at a couple of FACTS...
You know why the Sioux were in the Dakotas and Montana?...
Because the Winnebago ran their asses out of Minnesota.
This garbage about the "Noble Red Man" is tiresome...
The ENTIRE human race behaves in unconscionable ways...It is human nature. The Strong take from the weak.
So... because the human race behaved despicably two hundred years ago I am, Today, supposed to accept the despicable behavior of these vermin?
I don't think so. I don't steal. I don't silently tolerate it from anyone... not my neighbor, not the government that THINKS it rules me...
You think this was a lone case? The BLM is ACTIVELY trying to seize 90,000 acres of land in Texas that has been deeded in PRIVATE hands for generations...
You think the reaction in the Bundy case was noisy... wait until these BLM parasites try to seize the soil of the Great State of Texas... those boys often have juuuuuuuuust a lil bit different view of things.
Can you spell A-L-A-M-O boys and girls?
My guess is, this could all be eventually traced to the Wild Lands project.
Post a Comment