It is still unclear what benefit U.S. taxpayers have derived from the federal cattle roundup operation that has gone on in our backyard over the past couple of weeks. It began with hiring contract cowboys at an exorbitant rate. It continued with the wholesale shutdown of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands right at the height of the spring tourism season. It included unwarranted brutality towards peaceful protesters as well as an arrest and detention without due process along the way. And it ended in an impossible situation and the final release of the impounded cattle.
Of course, amidst all of that, the feds were able to gather a total of about 400 head of “trespass cattle” over the course of last week. This was no small accomplishment. But by that time the BLM had enraged the general public with its mis-steps, its road closures and its arrogance. And so a citizenry that otherwise would have had little stake in Bundy’s troubles literally rose up and took up arms against what many perceived as tyranical government intrusion. By Saturday, the tensions had been ratcheted so high that a final standoff ensued. Each side actually had assault rifles aimed across the Toquop wash at the other; and both were within a mere finger’s twitch of opening fire and going to battle. Outnumbered and outflanked, the federal forces ended up having no other choice but to withdraw and release the impounded cattle back into the hands of the Bundys.
To be clear, this resistance against federal authority was not some strange west Texas cult; nor was it any crazy fringe group holing itself up in the remote Idaho wilderness. No! This was, for the most part, a group of everyday, rational citizens who had left their homes to rally in support of what they determined was a just cause. By the end, many were literally prepared to take up arms in defense of their rights and freedoms. And that’s exactly what they did. That’s something that hasn’t happened in this country for a very long time!
And for all of this, the taxpayers have paid some yet undisclosed multi-million dollar amount. We can only hope that the experience will serve as an effective, albeit expensive, civics lesson for the big shots making decisions at the BLM, at the Park Service and in the rest of the administration.
One thing that we taxpayers might be able to hope for in all of this madness, is some revision to federal public lands policy. Now, in the aftermath of this horribly executed debacle, it would be a perfect time for the western states to band together and push their advantage on this issue. Now is the perfect time for a coalition of states to wrestle control of these vast expanses of public land out of federal hands and bring it closer to home into the states where it belongs. In this specific situation, Gold Butte is the perfect poster child for the concept that local stewardship and management of public lands is best! We hope that such a lesson has been learned.
On that note, we would stress the vital importance of the support and involvement of our elected officials in serving our interests. It took an awfully long time last week for any of them to become engaged in this mess. The members of our federal Congressional delegation were very nearly absent throughout the entire ordeal. Senator Dean Heller merely sent a surrogate to the community on Wednesday to put in an appearance at the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board meeting; and he later made a brief statement from afar mildly condemning BLM actions. That was it. There was nothing from Rep. Steven Horsford until after the tensions were being neutralized. Then he called a meeting in faraway Las Vegas, meant to rebuild from the ashes. But it was too little too late. Heaven forbid he should come out and put his feet on the ground in his own district during possibly the most pivotal and tense moment in his term. Still this was better than absolutely nothing, which is what came from Senator Harry Reid.
Though it was also late coming, we applaud the last minute efforts of Sheriff Doug Gillespie in brokering an agreement for a BLM stand-down. The fact is that by Friday afternoon, things on the ground with the protesters were quickly getting out of hand. Well armed militia members were coming in from all over the country bringing with them various dubious agendas. Anything could have happened if things had been allowed to continue through the weekend.
Gillespie should also receive credit for the noble behavior of the small army of Metro police officers that were called to the scene of the final showdown on Saturday afternoon. This force allowed just the right amount of space for the people to exercise their First Amendment rights, all while being available and alert in case things got out of hand. Before all was done, the Metro presence was needed to negotiate a final exit strategy for BLM forces and to see the federal forces safely away. It is good they were there.
While we are giving credit where credit is due, we should also mention Cliven Bundy and his family. Whatever one may think of the rancher’s legal claims, the Bundys made every effort to meet clear federal abuses with non-violent protest. They combatted last week’s many instances of federal over-reach with the freedom of the press; and the power of the people. The Bundys worked hard to neutralize tension, prevent violence and keep a lid on the armed elements of their protest movement. This was the high road.
There are many people out there who criticize Cliven Bundy for being lawless. They say that, with the federal courts having decided against him, he is stubbornly operating on the wrong side of the law. People who don’t know him better have called Bundy a freeloader, a whacko and an anarchist.
First off, Bundy has spent his life making a living off of a harsh desert ranching allotment that has been in his family since the 1800s. He has made sizeable financial investments over the years in costly improvements to the range. Those improvements have become assets to the public lands and have assisted in their managment. True, Bundy has not paid his grazing fees for two decades; and that may indeed be his greatest legal weakness. But he has some carefully thought out and principled reasons for not paying his fees. It’s not just because he didn’t want the expense. While the merits of those reasons are debatable, Bundy’s hard-working ethics and values are not. Cliven Bundy is not a free-loader!
Secondly, Bundy is, by nature, a mild-mannered, decent respectful person. He is not a screaming rabble-rouser, running through the streets and breaking windows in protest to get attention. In fact, if you asked him, he’d just as soon go back to ranching than be involved in all of this fuss. But he will not back down on what he perceives to be his Constitutional rights. Bundy and his family are level-headed, salt-of-the-earth kind of folks. Cliven Bundy is not a whacko!
Finally, Bundy’s refusal to accept the authority of, or to comply with, a federal court order does not make him an anarchist. He has not advocated for a revolution or for an overthrow of the government. On the contrary, he deeply treasures this nation and its founding documents. He knows and values those documents better than most.
Cliven Bundy is no more of an anarchist than was the quiet, mild mannered civil rights activist Rosa Parks when, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, she broke the law by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger.
Now, if that’s anarchy, perhaps we could use a little bit more of it in the world today.
