In the December 1 edition of Sunnyside’s Daily Sun News, Roger Harnack published yet another glorification of the Bundy clan’s paramilitary standoffs in Nevada and Oregon.
Most public land ranchers are responsible business owners, which is why the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and every other ranching organization has condemned the Bundys and their actions.
Though Cliven Bundy racked up millions in debt over 20 years of non payment of taxes and grazing fees, the BLM did not move to address his trespassing cattle until neighboring ranchers, the city of Bunkerville, and residents of Mesquite rose up and demanded the agency take action against the Bundys. And there was never an attempt to kick the Bundys off their own land, but to remove the cattle that were illegally grazing on public lands and damaging private property owned by others.
Obviously neighboring ranchers were angry with being forced to compete with someone who had given himself the overwhelming advantage of not paying taxes, leases, or resources used. And while these neighboring ranchers had complied with agreements to reduce cattle density in response to drought conditions, the Bundys significantly increased herd size and extended their range into areas that had never historically been used for cattle – irreparably damaging springs with fecal contamination, trampling fragile biotic soil crusts, and destroying archeological artifacts.
Contrary to Roger’s “facts”, the Bundys had not ranched in this area for generations – compared to their neighbors the Bundys were relative newcomers having moved from Arizona in 1948 and not using the disputed public lands for grazing until the mid-1950s. So Bundy’s great grandfather could not have bought the rights to the Bunkerville allotment, and Cliven’s claims of “pre-emptive” rights could not apply to the Bundys even if “pre-emptive” rights were a thing.
Moreover, Bundy did not stop payment due to an increase in grazing fees. The year he stopped paying taxes and fees (1994) his grazing fees had actually gone down. He stopped paying after embracing Sovereign Citizen ideologies, a bizarro movement that believes the U.S. government illegitimate and thus federal taxes, leases, and laws cannot be legally binding for any citizen born in one of the 50 states.
Cattle ranching on public lands is already heavily subsidized by taxpayers. In 2014, the BLM spent $144 million on grazing programs while earning less than $19 million in lease income. Public-land grazing in the Western states is 80 percent cheaper than grazing on private land. Ranching on most of this public land is not economically viable without ranchers receiving such subsidies, or in the Bundy case, stealing the resources outright. So Cliven Bundy is not a patriot but a welfare cheat.
Just as Roger Harnack is not a journalist.
~ Ron Fredricks – vezVida