Bundys' rhetoric
Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0

In what is now the waning veracity of the illegal takeover and occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, there are discussions beginning to take place about the significance of the siege.

One aspect of that discussion fairly asserts that it will take some time for the citizens of Harney County to recover. Harney County Judge Steve Gratsy said that while the occupation was illegal and did much damage to the community, it did put a conversation that he believed was going on in much of rural America front and center, the assertion being that local rural residents do not have the input in land management policies that they feel they should.

Bundys' rhetoric
Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0

A more extreme version of the issue can be surmised in the statement of Cliven Bundy to CNN in the wake of the arrests in Oregon and the death of LaVoy Finicum. Bundy, the father of the Oregon occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy, told CNN, “I’ll tell you one thing, we’re dang sure going to have to fight this battle over and over if we just give up right today.” He said this despite Ammon’s plea through his attorney to the remaining occupiers to stand down and go home.

In point of fact, the battle Bundy refers to is far from over. Western states, and Utah in particular, are ramping up to litigate with the federal government over the publicly owned lands in their states.

But a point of concern here when it comes to these discussions about the issues of public lands, especially locally, is the errant attitudes and behavior of those who are seemingly propagandizing the legitimacy of their understanding of the Founding Fathers’ intentions and the Constitution when it comes to pubic lands. They appear quite intent not only on refusing to consider opposing views but, in McCarthyesque fashion, demonizing anyone who holds such views.

Setting aside for the moment that this battle they are couching in ill-informed and revisionist rhetoric is at least somewhat legitimate insomuch as they are seeking redress for what may be the legitimate concerns of some people in the West, what is coming through loud and clear is that they do not give a shit what anyone thinks. They are going to have their way or, as Utah Rep. Mike Noel put it, “there will be bloodshed.”

Such hard lines are not only childish and damaging, they are un-American.

Brint Milward, the director of the National Institute of Civil Discourse has referred to   “muscular civility” as important to the democratic process as envisioned by the drafters of the Constitution:

“We believe that good governance is a product of the clash of ideas and values in the political arena. Our founders fashioned an arena with plenty of ways for power to check power. Unless one believes that one set of interests or ideas can prevail over others for long periods of time, we need to listen to our opponent’s arguments and look for areas of common interest, not because we want to, but because the structure of our government with its checks and balances demands it if we are to govern this country effectively.”

I liken this to what I often refer to as the incitation of rigorous dialogue on matters of consequence.

It may be my own experience alone, but what I have found, at least here in the southern part of Utah, is that the majority of people’s minds are made up on the matter of public lands. They purport that the lawmakers of our land have been somehow infiltrated by those who seek to pervert the Constitution for their own agenda’s sake, and they will not hear anything to the contrary. In fact, when I offer any refutation to the arguments they present on a local talk radio show, I am more often than not summarily dismissed as a communist bootlicker and even sometimes somewhat threatened for daring to utter out loud such refutations.

It is tantamount to what John Stuart Mill referred to as not the way to do justice to an argument.

In an opinion piece I penned almost two years ago in response to the standoff in Bunkerville, Nev., I wrote:

“I contend, however, that the animosity toward government that exceeds the boundaries of common sense is becoming its own distinct and recognizable movement. Its creed is a loose deference to a nuance of principles only a select few claim to understand; as if, somehow, they channel the founders and understand the law better than the rest of us.”

Bundys' rhetoric
Ryan Bundy autographs a pocket Constitution at a Recapture Canyon protest in San Juan County in 2014, photo by Dallas Hyland

They may or may not have a point, but it is all but drowned out by this growing sense of radicalism. And its drowning is exacerbated by mentally stunted troglodytes like Cliven, Ammon, and Ryan Bundy who pay lip service to patriotism while taking a stance regarding the future of public lands that represents only a select few groups of people instead of all Americans. It is not only dangerous; it is anti-intellectual, and it contradicts anything the founders would have supported in addressing the concerns of citizens of this country.

The Bundys’ rhetoric has done irreparable damage to what may very well be legitimate concerns of ranchers and other citizens in rural, western America. They have hijacked these concerns for their own selfish agendas and have characterized ranchers in a very negative and perhaps inaccurate light.

See you out there.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Just continue to use the big words that journalists use, but in the end, all your article boils down to is your way left liberal opionion and name calling and belittling the people that were willing to give their lives for a cause.

    • While liberals are often threatened with physical violence for their opinions, conservatives then whine about being called names. This is the mentality of people who think words that any high school graduate should be able to understand and use on a daily basis, are too big.

  2. When this paper quickly and routinely jumps to outrage over thugs killed by the government, it’s position on whites killed by the government as justified is galling. Your whining and crying over the injustices perpetrated by the government in that respect is blatantly discriminatory and prejudicial.

  3. Whatever, I have a degree, have written for St.George News, The Independent and Iron County today. I know the big words, but believe me I don’t need to use them to feel better or smarter than anyone else. Its a matter of communication.

    • Im actually confused as to what words would be considered too big for anyone qualified to debate the issues in the piece, and why that’s your biggest concern.

  4. Question–How does one go about creating a Marshal Law plan, in plain view, without the average American even know what a Marshal plan is? I think we’re seeing it happen as we go about our daily routines folks. A second question is, how soon will the ‘powers to be’ proclaim that the only recourse in curtailing the situation is to throw the 2nd amendment in the trash.
    Do I sound paranoid? maybe, maybe not.

  5. For 25 to 30 years now I have been a user of the Arizona Strip for Recreating,Hunting, Camping etc. It has been 5 years since I have visited the areas known as the Million Hills, Tasi Ranch, Pidgeon Point areas. This is all part of the Grand Canyon Parashonts National Monument. I can remember the days when cattle could be seen wandering around feeding, most of which did not like human presence. In those days before the Federal Government forced the removal of cattle from these ranges I would go there to Fish, (Lake Mead} Hunt Quail, Coyotes and ride horses. On Jan 29th 2016 I again went looking for Quail to hunt, I went to the areas that years prior had always held good populations of Quail. I found all of the water sources and watering troughs etc were dry, falling apart and there was no water anymore, the pipes broken, dug up, sun rotted etc. I continued looking in areas that I had always found birds. None. No water. One thing I did find trails of Burro tracks, trails that went for miles, dusty powder dry trails. Going toward Lake Mead. All of the water troughs that were maintained by the Ranchers who used to graze cattle in the area used to provide water to every type of living animal that inhabitated the area, Quail was everywhere around them. Now all gone, Ponds used to collect water full of dirt, dams broken, No water. As I got closer to Whitney Pockets I stopped at Pakoon Springs an area where I always found quail, seen deer & all types of wildlife. (I never did see Clem the Alligator though) The BLM bought out the past owner who had cultivated fields for alfalfa to feed livestock etc.They have gone in and cleaned it up and in the process drained the ponds, destroyed the fields all to return it to a natural state. I found no Quail, Didn’t see any deer tracks, But I did see Coyote tracks. And again Burro tracks. when I finally got to an area where cattle were still being allowed I started checking water holes again, At Last Quail, I found a few but left them for seed, I didn’t feel like shooting the three I seen. And again Burro Tracks. I went over towards Jacobs well and Mud Mountain antother area where cattle still graze, all the water holes were working Quail, Deer, Coyote, Bobcat and again Burro had been using the sites. I drove well over 250 miles that day looking for Quail to Hunt with my faithful English Pointer for company.
    And it is My Opinion that the BLM done a Great Injustice to the People, the Users of this area when they kicked the Ranchers Out. It is and was obivious that they cannot and do not maintain the land the way a rancher does. They have destroyed the habitat that alot of wildlife use by kicking out the livestock, The BLM don’t care it’s not there’s to try to exist on. The only thing they have done is Increase the Burro population, a feral animal that the NPS shoots around Lake Mead an animal that is to costly to trap and adopt out, ( Nobody wants them) so now instead of cattle that are sold for food, a worthless Burro is all they have and they can’t even manage that.

    This is why Ranchers are Fed Up. and the american people should be also.

    • So the welfare ranchers left and the land has returned to it’s natural state. I really don’t understand the desire to create an artificial environment in order to lure wildlife for the pleasure of killing them.

      For years, I had quail roaming around my 1/4 acre lot on the Bountiful bench in Davis County. Deer bedded down in my back yard. I never felt the need to hunt and shoot those magnificent creatures. I now reside in Southern Utah and I understood before I moved here that it is a desert. The desert ecosystem will sustain itself if man will just keep leave it alone and quit trying to improve it for profit.

      As an American citizen, I am fed up with the gun toting idiots who think they have a divine right to do whatever they feel like doing with a very fragile ecosystem. I support the Federal Government in their efforts to protect the land. I do not support people such as welfare ranchers who haven’t got a clue.

  6. If the Bundy’s and friends really want to drive off the Feds and return control of land to its rightful owners why would that not be American Indians and not r

  7. If the Bundy’s and friends really want to drive off the Feds and return control of land to its rightful owners why would that not be American Indians and not ranchers.

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