Is the Cliven Bundy Situation a 'Little Guy vs. Big Government' Sitcom?

Nuts in Nevada?

Out there 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 claimed that the land he uses to graze his cattle is subject to family claims that pre-date federal jurisdiction, and that the fees are not owed by him.  Those assertions may ultimately withstand scrutiny, but so far the courts have not regarded them with enthusiasm.  Orders apparently exist requiring Mr. Bundy to pay back grazing fees of more than a million dollars, and he has refused.  Efforts to enforce the existing orders have resulted in a carefully timed media circus, which now has whipped the political right wing into a froth.

All of this reminds me of Ed Brown, the former Plainfield resident who claimed a right to not pay his tax bill to support the American public.  Brown refused several legitimate attempts to secure his payment, and then created a “stand-off” in Plainfield that jeopardized the safety of the community, not to mention the governmental officials who were required to deal with his behavior.  It was discovered at one point that there were “mantraps” on his property clearly designed to injure people.

So why is this 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 and inflammation of a “little guy versus big government” sitcom at this point. Some observers have noted that political organizations in Nevada that share the libertarian concerns of the Koch brothers are actively engaged in promoting the crisis-like atmosphere out on the federal lands in question.  Which makes it very commendable that the federal officials have backed off to let the situation calm down. 

But the existence of this tempest is important to all of us, and it isn’t over.  At the heart of this matter is whether the property that you and I own as citizens, 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, right up to the Supreme Court, and he has the same obligation as the rest of us to abide by final orders issued by the courts.  What he does not have the right to do is 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 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 this?