took over the main office building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, with what the media has kindly labeled a “militia,” in protest of the recent re-sentencing of local Oregonian ranchers convicted of arson on federal land, and, more explicitly, in protest of the federal government itself. Anyone who is familiar with the 2014 incident involving the Bundy patriarch and his standoff with the federal government — after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began seizing his cattle over unpaid grazing fees on federal land (amounting to over $1.2 million) — more or less knows what the Bundys believe.Ultimately, their gripe is with the federal government owning land, period. They appear to believe that public land is unconstitutional and even tyrannical, and that they shouldn’t have to pay grazing fees or face any kind of penalty for setting fire to public property. Indeed, the ultimate goal of this “occupation” is for the federal government to relinquish control of their land, so that ranchers like the Bundys can do as they please. “What we’re doing is not rebellious. What we’re doing is in accordance with the Constitution,” said one of the sons, Ryan Bundy.
Cliven and co. are fond of invoking the Constitution during their armed run-ins with the law. Only one problem…
">The founding fathers would’ve hated the Bundy siege
Over the weekend, the sons of notorious Nevadan rancher Cliven Bundy took over the main office building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, with what the media has kindly labeled a “militia,” in protest of the recent re-sentencing of local Oregonian ranchers convicted of arson on federal land, and, more explicitly, in protest of the federal government itself. Anyone who is familiar with the 2014 incident involving the Bundy patriarch and his standoff with the federal government — after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began seizing his cattle over unpaid grazing fees on federal land (amounting to over $1.2 million) — more or less knows what the Bundys believe.
Ultimately, their gripe is with the federal government owning land, period. They appear to believe that public land is unconstitutional and even tyrannical, and that they shouldn’t have to pay grazing fees or face any kind of penalty for setting fire to public property. Indeed, the ultimate goal of this “occupation” is for the federal government to relinquish control of their land, so that ranchers like the Bundys can do as they please. “What we’re doing is not rebellious. What we’re doing is in accordance with the Constitution,” said one of the sons, Ryan Bundy.