Cattle Battle: Cliven Bundy is an Anarchist and Domestic Terrorist, NOT a Patriot

by Sunnyjane

Militia patriots honor the National Anthem of the country they would like to destroy. 

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines patriot as One who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.  Conversely, the definition for anarchist fits Cliven Bundy like a redneck's undershirt: a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power.  And when Harry Reid called him a domestic terrorist, he was using the George W. Bush administration's definition of domestic terrorism: ...the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or Puerto Rico without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives.  I guess Sean Hannity didn't get that memo.

In addition, Cliven Bundy is an ignorant, racist, hypocritical, lying, welfare-mooching old git, the far-right's Jesus-in-a-Stetson.  Yeeeeeee hah, Buckaroos! 

A Wail of a Tale:  Now About Those 19th Century Ancestral Rights...

Whoa, Kemosabe...my people have lived here since 10,000 BC.

Let's get real here.  If there's a land-grabber in this mess, it's Cliven Bundy, not the government.  Bundy doesn't own the land on which he's been grazing his cattle for free all these years; he has no deed to the land and he's never paid taxes on it.

Furthermore, he has lied about those ancestral rights -- as reiterated by his daughter in a fairly illiterate Facebook screed.  The truth is that his family has not grazed up and down the Virgin River since 1877, at least that which flows through southern Nevada.  According to the 1900 Census, Bundy family members lived in Arizona.  Cliven's father, David Bundy, is seen on the 1940 Census as still living in Arizona; he bought the land in Nevada on which the Bundy family lives today in 1948, two years after Cliven was born.  And he did not purchase the public land that is in dispute today.  There are records to prove that, of course.  Oh, those pesky verifiable documentary evidence thingies!

There's a history here, of course; it's not an issue that suddenly appeared out of thin air.  President Ronald Reagan signed an Executive Order in February 1986 establishing fees for use of federal (public) land because it had been poorly managed by the ranchers themselves by overgrazing on certain parcels and ignoring the environmental impact of some of their activities.   All ranchers in the area, including Cliven Bundy, began paying these fees accordingly -- government subsidized fees, I might add: the fee today is $1.35 per cow/calf combination, a real bargain, since to graze on privately owned grazing land would cost a rancher up to $16.80 for the same cattle combination.  But in the early 1990's, Mr. Bundy decided that the public land actually belonged the county, and he no longer paid his grazing fees.  He tried a couple of times to give them to Clark County, which refused to accept them, of course.  (That's sort of like paying your mortgage to your neighbor because you don't like Bank of America's attitude.)

He filed a law suit.  He lost.  He refused to pay the million dollars he owed for back fees. The BLM revoked his grazing permit.  By now he had decided that the land was actually his, having those bogus ancestral rights and all.  The BLM warned him several times that his cattle could be impounded if he continued his refusal to pay.  Then he was told that on such-and-such a day that BLM enforcement officers would arrive on the public land to take any cattle that roamed there.  That began the current imbroglio.

Sounds like Cliven Bundy is taking lessons from Vladimir Putin, doesn't it?

Oh Give Me a Home Where the Negro Don't Roam...

Real good thing you Fox boys is all white 'cause I ain't talkin' to no Negros .

After the BLM wisely decided not to enforce their orders to impound Bundy's cattle for fear that there would be shooting, the gun-totin' rednecks declared victory, saddled up their horses, and left old Cliven to his own devices.  Perhaps they had had enough of him, anyhow, since he was not happy with them.  Why?  Because, it seems he had given them a command -- which he had received from God himself, mind you -- that they tear down the toll booths at Lake Mead and disarm the Park Service.  (Don't ask me why; I dunno.)  But they didn't carry out his order and Bundy was angry with them: The message I gave to you all was a revelation that I received. And yet not one of you can seem to even quote it.   Well, no wonder the man was pissed; I mean it was from God, after all.

So when the real story was over, old Cliven would have been much better off to retire to his front porch and bask in his anti-establishment heroism, feverishly wondering which right-wing politician was going to be the first to invite him to the 2015 State of the Union Address.  They were all lining up, I'll wager.

But then his balloon burst.  For some reason, in the waning moments of his fifteen minutes of fame, Cliven Bundy decided to share his thoughts on The Negro:  And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?  They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.  (And, no, I've never heard of anyone -- of any race -- aborting young children, either.  The man's an illiterate kook.)  And a healthy dose of hypocrisy, given that he received government subsides for his grazing fees and has received welfare for twenty years for his cattle after he stopped paying.  Can you say Getting free stuff from the government?   Can you say Taker?

So as frequently happens when the far-right takes on what they believe to be a government overreach issue, the solid waste came in direct contact with the small oscillating appliance -- again.  All the ravers and ranters -- politicians, pundits, and television/radio talking heads -- started pulling away or went into hiding.  Even the Koch Brothers' Prosperity for America Nevada scrubbed their support from all of their social media accounts.  Heh.

End Note

I love the U.S. Constitution, but I don't recognize the government it stands for!