According to the local paper, the Bundy family owns 160 acres, but has let their cattle graze on federal land going back generations. The feds started charging them a “grazing fee” in the early ‘90’s and the central dispute is over whether the feds are owed $1MM (claimed by the feds) or $300k as claimed by the Bundy family. This has been a 20 year long dispute that is coming to head with the feds declaring that the cattle on federal land are “trespass cattle” and killing them.
The reaction to this is what is on the videos, but essentially this is a money dispute. Not easy for me to see the heroes in this situation. Still, this causis belli is as good as any other, I suppose.
People are getting PO’d. With every SWAT team assault on guy that owes back taxes, cop capping a dog, cell-phone forcibly ripped from a hand and thrown into the street, and regulator ruining a career while thieves laugh all the way to the bank, people are starting to wake up to their status as proles. Funny thing is, people are not liking the realization that they just do not matter to the machine and the 3 million people that the machine props up and DO matter.
The Government is the evil 1%. The Bundy family is merely taking from the evil 1% and using it for the public good. Hungry people are able to eat because of the Bundy family, the evil Government 1% wants people to starve.
Pretty much agree with your assessments. It goes to underscore just how hated the paramilitary LEOS have become though. People are beginning to rally even on a shaky case. It is because they -want- to.
The Feds want to kill off the open range and eliminate the grazing rights of the locals across the whole nation.
This is just one battle in their long term strategery to get to their goal.
The administration of grazing on public lands was started in the 30’s. This has been in the courts for a couple decades.
So was the Boston Tea Party.