Written by Alex Ellis
Last weekend, as I stood atop I-15 near Bunkerville, Nev., I felt ambivalent as I watched the local ranchers release Cliven Bundy’s cattle.
Before any would-be critic takes a swipe at me, let me first point out that I do, in fact, believe Cliven Bundy to be a criminal. For 20 long years he has broken the law, and for 20 long years the federal government has inexplicably shrugged it off. However, shrugging off criminal activity is not the sort of precedence our law enforcement should be setting, and it should have come as no surprise when federal agents finally showed up at Bundy’s door to confiscate his cattle in lieu of the $1 million he owed to the taxpaying public.
Yes, readers, Cliven Bundy owes $1 million to taxpayers across the nation. Repeating a lie often enough does not make it true, just as saying “the federal government does not own these lands” enough times does not magically make their claims of ownership disappear. Whether or not such ownership is constitutional is a completely different subject, one that I won’t get into here.
Let’s get back to the main point. While Cliven Bundy is a criminal and should be forced to pay back his money to all the other law-abiding, taxpaying citizens and ranchers, something special happened that Saturday afternoon. For the first time I can remember, a group of citizens was actually able to stand up to the federal government until the feds backed down and gave the people what they wanted. Before someone denies that this is an amazing occurrence, I ask for an example of an armed confrontation between the people and the feds that didn’t end in violence or arrests. Other instances may be out there, but if they are then they are extremely few and far between.
This is where my ambivalence comes from. While I am upset to see one criminal get his way, it fills me with joy to see the biggest criminal of them all back down. Remember Occupy Wall Street and their fight to end the corporate control of our government? Our politicians still succumb to corporate will and lobbyist money, and, in fact, the U.S. Supreme Court just reaffirmed the rights of individuals and super PACS to donate unlimited amounts of money.
Remember Edward Snowden and how he showed the public that our government illegally spies on hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people around the world? Despite what president Obama may tell you, these operations are still going on and are only increasing in scope. What about Bradley Manning and his revelations of our military murdering civilians in the Middle East and covering it up? Currently, he is serving a 30-plus year sentence, and I don’t need to tell you that we are still involved in the Middle East.
After decades of the government breaking laws, murdering innocents and starting wars all in the name of profit, it makes me happy to see someone finally stand up to the feds and make them back down. I only wish it wasn’t a wanna-be cowboy fighting for his “right” to illegally graze on public lands without paying, but we can’t always choose the course of history.
However, we can help to move it in a better direction. This is why I ask the readers to make a stand for what is right. The next time a local politician is caught red-handed breaking the law, join with your community and demand his or her arrest. Next time thousands of people march on New York to demand an end to corporate lobbying, or march on Washington, D.C., to demand the end to an illegal war, I ask you to march alongside them. I ask you to march alongside me.
While Cliven Bundy may have been fighting the wrong battle, he was right when he said that our country is in jeopardy. Despite how hopeless things may seem, we do have the tools to make them right; we only have to use them.
