The View From Squag City

Out in Nevada, a rancher named Cliven Bundy has refused to pay grazing fees on land that is owned by the American public.  That’s you and me, in case confusion has set in.

Bundy has said that the land he uses to graze his cattle is subject to family claims that pre-date federal jurisdiction, and that he does not owe the grazing fees.  His assertions may ultimately withstand scrutiny, but so far the courts have not regarded them with enthusiasm.  Court orders exist requiring Mr. Bundy to pay back grazing fees of more than a million dollars, and so far he has refused to pay.  Efforts to enforce the existing orders have resulted in a media circus, which has whipped the political right into a froth.

As reported, this story reminds me of Ed Brown, the former Plainfield resident who claimed he did not have to pay taxes to support the American government.  Brown rebuffed many legitimate attempts to secure payment of what he owed, and then created a “stand-off” in Plainfield that jeopardized the safety of the community, and of course the governmental officials who were required to deal with his behavior.  It was discovered at one point that Brown had “mantraps” on his property that were clearly designed to injure people.

So why is this confrontation happening now, out there in Nevada?  I don’t know, but reasonable people might think there is some relationship between the mid-term elections and the creation of a “little guy versus big government” scenario. Some observers have noted that political organizations in Nevada affiliated with the libertarian views of the Koch brothers are actively engaged in promoting the crisis-like atmosphere.  It’s clear that things really got “whipped up” out there, and too many threats were being made, way too many. Thank goodness the federal officials have sensibly backed off, to let the situation calm down, for now.

Even from a distance this tempest is important to all of us, and it isn’t over.  At the heart of the matter is the question whether property that you and I own as American citizens can be peeled away by people who don’t like our government, or the rule of law to which we are all subject.  Mr. Bundy has the same right as the rest of us to make legal arguments in a court of law and he has the same obligation as the rest of us to abide by court orders.  What he does not have is the right to take for himself property that is owned by all of us, and then ignore the legal process that is part of our heritage.  Because if he can do it, you better believe that a whole lot of big mining, fracking (power line?) and polluting corporate entities will start doing it too, just like they used to do a hundred years ago.

I wonder what the Republican candidates for high office think about all of this?