by Robert Emmett Murphy, Jr.
Cliven Bundy says his battle for Freedom may escalate into the Next Ruby Ridge.
No it won’t, in part because it’s not really about his freedom, but his lawlessness.
This guy is fast becoming a folk-hero for his stand against the Federal Government, but how many of Cliven Bundy’s fans ask themselves what the fight is really about?
It’s about three things:
1. Who the land actually belongs to?
2. Does the Government have the right to regulate land use for environmental protection?
3. What does means to live in a nation with rule of law?
The answers:
1. Despite Bundy’s claims, the land is demonstrably Federal property.
2. As it is federal property, and the habitat of an endangered species, the Federal Government not only has the right, but the responsibility to regulate it. And those regulations did not forbid Bundy using it for grazing, only insisted that he pay fees and obey rules.
3. Bundy fought this in the courts, and already lost, so he cannot claim he was denied due process. He continued to engage in demonstrably illegal behavior, trespassing and continuing to refuse to pay his lawful fees. All the while the utmost restraint was employed in dealing with him (this is news now, but it has been dragging on for 21 years). Moreover, he has threatened violence against Federal civilian employees and law enforcement, so he both picked and escalated this fight.
The fight involves a 600,000-acre area under Bureau of Land Management control in Nevada called Gold Butte, near the Utah border. It is the habitat of the protected desert tortoise, and ranchers whose cattle graze there must pay fees.
Bundy stopped paying grazing fees of about $1.35 a month per cow-calf pair in 1993. He said he didn’t have to because his Mormon ancestors worked the land since the 1880s, giving him rights to the land. “We own this land,” he said, not the Feds. He claims this is a State’s Rights Issue, and that he is willing to pay grazing fees but only to Clark County, not BLM. (Note: He hasn’t cut any checks to Clark County either.)
After five years of refusing to pay fees, in 1998, the BLM finally revoked his grazing permit. Clark County then bought out that permit for $375,000 (buying the permit is explicit acknowledgment by Clark County of who the land really belongs to) and retired it permanently to protect the desert tortoise under the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. It was ultimately Clark County, not the Feds, that forbid all grazing on the land.
Bundy continued to trespass and graze illegally, so a Federal judge ordered a round-up in 2012. This, however, was postponed by BLM after Bundy threatened violence toward federal employees.
Since then, he has lost two federal court rulings — and a judge last October prohibited him from physically interfering with any seizure or roundup operation. This past Sunday, his son, Dave Bundy, 37, was arrested Sunday for refusing to disperse as the roundup began, but freed the next day.
As of this date, Bundy owes the federal government some $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees, trespass fines and interest.
Says Bundy, “This is a lot bigger deal than just my cows. It’s a statement for freedom and liberty and the Constitution.”
Says his wife Carol, “It’s a freedom issue that we’re really fighting here, and it’s bigger than our cows and bigger than the tortoises. It’s about the federal government wanting control to do whatever it wants to do.”
But this isn’t exactly a David and Goliath parable. Don’t think one man vs. jack-booted impersonal government. Plenty of citizens not only support, but were campaigning for, the government to take action — notably conservationists who were threatening to sue the Feds over their inaction in regards to Bundy’s law-breaking.
John Hiatt, Red Rock Audubon’s conservation chairman says: “From the standpoint of wildlife, the springs and riparian areas in Gold Butte are vital. The most immediate result of the removal of the trespass cattle will be the recovery of the vegetation around these water sources which will benefit all wildlife species.”
Terri Robertson, President of Friends of Sloan Canyon, “Mr. Bundy has long falsely believed that Gold Butte is his ranch. We all know that is not the reality, and it is time for him for obey the law.”
Rob Mrowka, senior scientistatt the Center for Biological Diversity, “The federal government has been caving in to Cliven Bundy for years at the sacrifice of lands that are not only being destroyed for the tortoise but also for all the people of the United States who own it… Again and again federal judges have said the BLM has the right and duty to remove cattle trespassing in the Gold Butte area to protect desert tortoises and other imperiled species. We’re heartened and thankful that the agencies are finally living up to their stewardship duty.”
So one the one side you have the land’s lawful owners, who just happen to be the Federal Government, who also are supported by a constituency of citizens, and are acting to protect both a natural resource and rule of law.
Who does Bundy have of his side? Apparently not his fellow cattleman. An article in the Las Vegas Review Journal quoted a statement from the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association which took pains to point out they had nothing to do with Bundy’s “range war”:
“Nevada Cattlemen’s Association does not feel it is in our best interest to interfere in the process of adjudication in this matter, and in addition NCA believes the matter is between Mr. Bundy and the federal courts.”
By and large, ranchers are getting a good deal from public lands ranching, and they seem to fear that Bundy’s antics may jeopardize that. After all, paying a couple dollars a month per head of cattle and letting the public pick up the multi-million dollar tab to repair damage to the land is a good deal for them
But the anti-Government Militias seem to be willing to stand up for Bundy. From the Las Vegas Review Journal:
“From near and wide, armed men are trickling toward Cliven Bundy’s ranch, where the rancher’s fight with the federal government has become a rallying cry for militia groups across the United States.”
By late Wednesday of this week, there were three of these “armed men”. Two, Ryan Payne and Jim Lardy, are members of the West Mountain Rangers; Payne is also a coordinator with Operation Mutual Aid, which he says is a national militia coalition group. Said Payne, “We need to be the barrier between the oppressed and the tyrants. Expect to see a band of soldiers.”
The third armed man was Stephen Dean, a member of the People’s United Mobile Armed Services. He said he made the trip in hopes of heading off another Ruby Ridge or Waco, echoing Bundy’s repeated references to tragic standoffs between Federal Law Enforcement and suspected (or in the case of Waco established) criminals that, unlike this, took place on the citizen’s own property. Dean said he also carries weapons more powerful than his firearms: a camera and the Internet.
The only national media attention this has recieved was from Fox news. Their report was shamefully slanted, downplayed or ignored the most important facts, and bluntly characterized this, and all other forms of land conservation as economic suicide. Bundy was interviewed and allowed to spout un-subtlety implied threats of violence without challenge. Well, it was Hannity. What did you expect? Journalism?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armAcbEO1PE#t=209
This Prairie Fire, if it is that, had its spark last week when the BLM announced the area would be closed through May 12 while contractors conduct the roundup using helicopters, vehicles and temporary pens. The cost was projected as $966,000, or almost as much as what Bundy owes the government.
Dean was probably was the person who filmed the protesters confrontation with Federal officers. The crowd of protesters is small, and seemed to be made up mostly of Bundy’s family members who Bundy and his supporters tried the round up. His son Ammon was hit with a stun gun but not arrested. Bundy’s sister, Margaret Houston, states that she was thrown to the ground by a BLM officer. She also wasn’t arrested. There were claims that dogs had been sicced on protesters and protesters were hit by government vehicles, but there is no evidence on the tape that anyone was injured. The video seems to show law enforcement showing a great deal of restraint as compared to the protestors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhJ6H9vlEDA
When the protesters chant triumphantly at the 6:30 mark, it is not stated that the agents were assisting the exit from the scene of a BLM vehicle that had been blocked by protesters, and they departed after they had accomplished this. According to a BLM and National Park Service statement, the incident started when “a BLM truck driven by a non-law enforcement civilian employee assisting with gather operations was struck by a protester on an ATV, and the truck’s exit from the area was blocked by a group of individuals who gathered around the vehicle.” The peaceful protest had “crossed into illegal activity” in recent days, with people “blocking vehicles associated with the gather, impeding cattle movement, and making direct and overt threats to government employees….These isolated actions that have jeopardized the safety of individuals have been responded to with appropriate law enforcement actions.”
So far, the round-up has been successful, with 352 animals gathered, many belonging to Bundy. There are concerns that his cows have mingled with feral cattle, un-immunized and perhaps disease carrying. This could pose complications when the Feds try to auction them off to reimburse costs.
Gov. Brian Sandoval and Senator Dean Heller have condemned the manner in which BLM conducted the long delayed round-up. Sandoval decried an “atmosphere of intimidation…that such conduct is offensive to me and countless others…No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans.” He especially objected to road closings and the establishment of “First Amendment Zones” to keep protesters and Federal employees separate.
But notably, neither addressed the issue of the legality of the round up itself or the legal ownership of the property in question.
The BLM insisted that allowing Bundy to go for so long was unfair to thousands of other ranchers who abide by range laws. Bundy is not the only rancher who violated federal grazing regulations, although his case is among the most severe, BLM officials said. Most violations are resolved by the next grazing season and tied to lesser issues such as failing to leave grazing lands by a specified seasonal date. The seized cattle already approach, or exceed, three hundred, a giant operation for an agency the typical seizes about four cattle a year.
Just as the confrontation started to receive national attention, it fizzled out. As of Saturday, it looked like Bundy had won because the Feds were backing off. In a public statement, BLM Director Neil Kornze said :
“Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public.
“We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner.”
But notable here is the fact there is no concession to any rightness in Bundy’s cause, or that he could unilaterally stop paying legally rendered fees and ignore repeated court orders. The statement cites safety issues, which. of course, means Bundy’s threats of violence. It doesn’t bode well for the legitimacy of a Federal authority, or a Law Enforcement agency, when it backs off when the criminals act tough; this is likely to encourage more ranchers to follow Bundy’s lead.
Moreover, the government is now vulnerable to a renewed law suit by the conservationists.
Don’t be surprised if the cattle disappear from public land anyway. Bundy is a criminal, a bully, a border-line seditionist, with multiple court orders against him, and opposition within his own community. He may withdraw his now smaller herd back to his own property. Then the Feds may choose to continue to use contracted cattleman gather the cattle up, only more slowly and discreetly, maybe even one at a time. There are other options as well, and these could be worse for Bundy now that the round up has been temporarily abandoned — the Feds now have the option to wait until his new, radical, Militia friends go home, and then pursue criminal charges against him for obstruction of governmental administration and menacing. They may seize his bank accounts and the property that actually belongs to him because of his mounting debts ($1.1 million in unpaid fees, fines, and interest, plus nearly another million for the cost of the aborted round up, plus however much that cost was inflated because of the need to increase the law enforcement presence since he threatened to start a range war). Bundy fought the law, but ultimately the law will win. And as romantically as the cowboy and the outlaw are often viewed in our culture, in this case the law should prevail.