The Real Lesson in the Bundy Cattle Ranch vs. the Feds

Have you been following that escalating mess out in Nevada between a generations old family of ranchers and grazing rights on land for their cattle? It now looks as if the growing public attention and pressure to the situation, which was not the fed’s business anyway, appears to be simmering down a bit as the local Sheriff announced this morning the BLM was leaving the area in question … AFTER taking some of the Bundy family’s cattle herd.

Whether or not the Bundy family has the facts and law on their side or not is to be seen in the courts. What IS now on the table for Americans and their court of public opinion is how big and bad the United States federal government has grown out of our sight and our minds. And what the Hell are we going to do about cutting away this all consuming cancer we have allowed to fester?

By the way, THIS is how the federal government views your/our rights/Bill of Rights in this country as the BLM thought THEY could designate if/where/when First Amendment rights were to be exercised in the disputed area…

Yeah, it IS a pivitol photo example of exactly how the current federal government views the people and our Constitution. It’s sorta kinda like how the feds view our hard earned money and inheritance. It’s ALL theirs, and they get to decide how much, if any, we actually get to keep … with conditions, of course.

However, the current Bundy cattle ranch/BLM dust-up in Nevada is just a symptom of the core problem in the nation. The fact is the feds have usurped a hell of alot of land, especially in the American west, and in some cases a huge percentage of whole states.

This is a 2008 map, but you can see states such as Alaska and Nevada, the feds ‘own’ almost all of the state(s) … and in most cases where the state(s) have wide areas of federal lands those areas are rich in natural resources and prime land. I believe Wyoming recently had some private lands taken from people/owners in order to ‘return’ to the native American tribes, or something…

Pages 4-5 of this pdf file show the percentages of federal land in the individual 50 states (Below the post fold)…

And if the feds aren’t stealing land outright, the fed gov agencies, like the EPA and the Dept. of the Interior are overreaching with regulations. Just look at something like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago, and the fight Louisiana/Gov. Jindal had with the Dept. of Interior over the protection of their vital areas and the manner/method of clean up. The Dept. of Int. even was in violation of more than one federal judge ruling to step-off and leave La. do what they had to do. Also, unless I’m mistaken, the issue in the Bundy cattle dispute actually revolves around ‘state’ held land, not federal. So, the BLM, like the EPA and Dept. of Interior, is way over-stepping.

This mess is alleged to be the result of protecting the desert tortoises on this controversial land area where the Bundy cattle have grazed for over a century. Yet, this same agressive BLM that has interloped on a cattle rancher is now actually exterminating the same damn tortoises that have been kept in a protective recovery refuge area.

Most of the federal government’s land grabbing is western territories. When you hear the pro-drilling people yelling for more drilling, and the liberals/government scoffing saying lots of drilling is going on in the country, none of it is really on these federal lands where the fossil fuel deposits are very rich. And the majority of those federal lands areas are NOT producing any jobs or wealth or revenue (taxes), unless they are tourist area parks where people are charged for various things. No, these areas basically suck-down tax dollars in the manner of upkeep, agents/rangers (as we saw in last years government shutdown), and resourses needed to counter monsterous wild/forest fires because the EPA/feds refuse common sense land management of old growth forest fuels that explode fires to that level.

MORE:

Out-of-state groups ride in to stand with Nevada rancher in battle with feds over grazing rights

Dispute between Nevada rancher and Feds over grazing rights escalates

American Spectator writer Clarice Feldman also reminds me (on Facebook):

PLUS–in areas like Malibu rich movie stars and others have avoided giant property taxes by deeding over easements to non-profit groups, taking them out of play.

Yes, these are those wealthy neo-socialist/neo-communist celebrities that want the federal government to take everyone else’s money (more taxes)/lands but NOT their money and/or land.