[dynoman]

I would also expect that people that rent government land pay rent to use it. That’s the way real life works.

[Red Steel]

Here’s your penny. Actually, government does not own the land but manages the land for the public. The rancher and his family have been grazing on this land for what about 150 years. The federal law here may need to be modified. That’s how it works.

[andyk]

government land

And there you have it. It is not public land - none of it is. It's government land. And that is not a good thing.

Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that in 1998 the government stopped asking for rent when they told him to get off the government land he had been using, all in order to save a poor little tortoise, or a snail, or whatever. This is about control. Obedience. Subservience. Submission. This is about a tyrannical government.

He's not being assaulted for failure to pay rent.