If I am out in the middle of nowhere and I am being followed by known hostiles, no I don’t stop. I keep going until I get to town where there are more people and witnesses. Why didn’t LOE let them get to town? They knew where they were going. Why ramp it up?
We do indeed love those wide open spaces out West. More than half of the Western states are controlled solely by the federal govt. Half of Oregon is under federal control (BLM and USFS) and more than 80% of Nevada (1/4 in Washington, as I recall?). Jobs have been lost to many people out there due to the SJWs of our Bureaucracies. Proper stewardship is possible, but more and more of the land is taken by the Feds and not properly managed. That is why the Hammonds are in prison, branded as Terrorists! Now they will lose their land, too. That is justice???
We could go back and forth on this, but suffice it to say that Bundy et.al. had every right to go to Oregon and to protest Govt. abuse. We all should have that right. Yes, there will be a day in court. Bundy, et.al. will go to prison. Yay, the stop sign runners and bird lovers are finally off the street.
I’m surprised we aren’t still paying a tea tax.
The way to change land usage is public support and opinion. A difficult road given the “environmental” dogma that seems to dominate the Inland Northwest at the ballot box.
Government is messy business. Land rights are messy business. At the end of the day I am pretty convinced having lived here for some time that little to nothing would change in the policies many dislike if the land was turned over to the states for management. In fact, I even believe (could be wrong) that there would be more restrictions in Oregon/Washington/California. Regardless, I still support more local and state control over the lands because that is my philosophy of government (bottom up).
I can’t really speak to the other Western states as I am not as familiar with their state politics. Would guess Idaho would be the only state that would likely see a decrease in regulation and restrictions on public land, but then again, the state of Idaho just voided long term leases to lake properties and auctioned them off screwing the people who owned them for a long time.
That was my point. It’s easy to demand or promote change, the problem is you must have an idea and workable concept of what comes next - an exit strategy if you will. The reality is our nation is hopelessly divided on a whole host of issues and land rights (not really on the radar of most Americans) is no different. Fair, right, wrong, or indifferent the fact is the “nation” purchased these lands long ago and these arguments have existed since then. I suppose Great Grandpa Bundy could have had a stand-off 70 years ago with the same arguments. Nothing has changed and nothing will change as a result of this action.
Once again, what argument does the man in the video I posted above (he is still there) make? I have posted it repeatedly without a single comment or defense of him posted by those who support this action. That is the problem with “extreme action” - you can’t control who responds and now there are four occupiers left with an even more confusing message.