So this week we were treated to Son of Cliven Bundy (Ammon) bringing his band of brothers up to Oregon to take a stand for freedom. The freedom, that is, to use public land as if it belongs to you and no one else. What these “patriots” are taking issue with is the jailing of these Oregonian ranchers who set fires on federal land, once to clear brush, the other time apparently to hide evidence of poaching. They were sent to jail on a relatively light sentence, released, and then ordered to return on the basis of a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years for federal arson, the latter decision handed down by a higher court.
Bundy the younger and his comrades apparently see this as the next chapter in the titanic struggle that began at old man Cliven’s ranch, when the Feds impounded his cattle until he coughed up the $1million or more he owed the People of the United States for use of their (a.k.a. our) land. So they holed up in the office of a federal bird sanctuary, toting their best firearms (you can’t spell Ammon without ammo), and hoped for the same outcome as happened with Cliven – namely, a federal climb-down. (And judging by the fact that they didn’t bring along nearly enough granola bars for a long stay, they are probably expecting that to happen right along.)
Okay, without getting into the tedious details of this incident, I want to make a couple of points. First, there’s no particular federal overreach here. If I went down to the local federal building and built a campfire in the lobby, I would be arrested and charged … and I would expect to be. That said, the federal government is in a way responsible for this ridiculous standoff by virtue of its actions … or inaction. Daddy Cliven still owes the government over a million dollars for his use of federal land. What’s more, his supporters pointed guns at federal law enforcement and paid no penalty. When you allow something like that to happen without adequate response, you encourage others to try. That’s George W. Bush logic. Even so, in this context it makes sense.
Ever wonder what would happen if these dudes were Black or Native American? Stop wondering – we already know. Ask Fred Hampton. Ask the guys who were in the standoff at Wounded Knee in the 1970s. Ask MOVE. Overwhelming force is what they get; patience is what Ammon and Cliven Bundy get. That’s called racial preference, people.
luv u,
jp
Living in a tiny little burg in upstate New York as we do, you tend to intellectualize big problems like climate change. Nothing makes it more concrete than an afternoon on the Garden State Parkway or the New Jersey Turnpike. Millions of vehicles in a mad crush, turning the road into a massive parking lot around the major exits, everyone struggling to get just one car length ahead of the next fucker. At one point in a particularly slow-moving traffic jam on a railroad overpass I was flanked by a tractor trailer carrying fuel while beneath us passed one of those amazingly long tanker trains. When no one’s moving, there’s little to do but think, and it’s moments like that when I start thinking … we have a little problem.