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Posted on 01/04/2016 10:33:31 AM PST by ObozoMustGo2012
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas.) on Monday slammed the protesters who have taken over a federal building in rural Oregon, urging them to lay down their arms.
“Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds,†Cruz told reporters at campaign event in Iowa, according to NBC News.
“But we don't have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence on others,†he said. “And so it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation.†Cruz said he is praying for everyone involved in the dispute, particularly law enforcement officials who “are risking their lives.â€
The protesters, led by two sons of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, say they are taking a stand against a prison sentence for two landowners convicted of arson on federal property.
They’re also part of a group that frequently protests against federal government's management of Western lands. They protesters have told media outlets that they plan to stay on the refuge for years.
The standoff has put Republican presidential candidates on the spot, with some of them having expressed support in a similar dispute in 2014 between Bundy and the government over unpaid grazing fees.
The support for Bundy eroded when he began making racially charged statements in interviews.
Up until Monday, most of the GOP's White House contenders had refrained from speaking out on the Oregon dispute, but that is beginning to change.
Like Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) condemned the takeover at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, though he told an Iowa radio station that he sympathizes with the movement to shrink federal land holdings.
“You’ve got to follow the law. You cannot be lawless,†Rubio told KBUR in an interview highlighted by Buzzfeed. “We live in a republic. There are ways to change the laws of this country and the policies. And if we get frustrated with it, that’s why we have elections, that’s why we have people we can hold accountable.â€
Rubio lent some credit to the stated goals of the occupation, reported by local media to involve a small group of armed men with very few local residents. The group is objecting to federal land control and ownership and pushing for the federal land to be given to states or individuals.
“I agree that there is too much federal control over land, especially out in the western part of the United States. There are states, for example, like Nevada that are dominated by the federal government in terms of land holding, and we should fix it,†Rubio said, adding that it shouldn’t be done “in a way that is outside the law.â€
Among the 2016 hopefuls, Cruz has been one of the most vocal advocates for reducing federal land ownership, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Cruz led the charge against the Bureau of Land Management’s claims over property around the Red River in Texas, saying he wants to “protect landowners from federal overreach.â€
Rubio has been less vocal about federal land ownership, but his energy policy platform calls for more local and state control over federal property for oil and natural gas drilling or other uses.
Land management is a major political issue in Western states. Nationwide, the federal government owns and manages nearly 630 million acres, with most located west of the Mississippi River.
Cruz and Rubio have increasingly clashed in recent weeks, with both seeking to overtake Donald Trump in polls of the Republican race.
While Rubio is seeking to gain ground in New Hampshire, the first primary state, Cruz has taken the lead in Iowa, which will hold its caucuses on Feb. 1.
No they did not. If this is an example of Cruz’s scholarship... he is way overrated.
Has Ted Cruz conveyed the same message to Black Lives Matter protestors?
Cruz is right again.
This isn’t the fight or hill to die on, this is no Bundy ranch situation and its no wonder the militia’s themselves aren’t rallying and flooding in to this situation.
This will all just fade away as it should.
Watch and learn from a credible patriot in his own backyard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARpBS6O14FE
Ted Cruz is WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bundy’s ranch stand off was a bad hill to die on.
This cause is a far stronger one. The father and son did their time over something that they should not have had to go to jail for .... and now a judge wants to set aside the spirit of double jeopardy to make them serve an even longer term because of “minimum” sentencing lawsx
Cruz blinks, just like I suspected that he would.
Show me the hill you are willing to die on... Point to it.
This plays right into the rat`s hands, right when they`re going for ‘executive action’ on their precious gun control. It screams False Flag, too much coincidence for me.
I’ve already put boots on the ground on one of those hills...YOU? This isn’t it.
Has Trump commented?
Cruz is exactly right on this one.
I don't want to get burned (pun not intended) by backing some group I assume are correct and end up being kooks or con artists or some such.
Can anyone point to me a good conservative source that is neutral that can allow me to verify the bona fides of this?
I am far from cattle country and don't understand the arguments involved all that well from the Bundy side.
Well, we know this.
If Trump agrees with Cruz, then Cruz is just parroting Trump's sage analysis.
If Trump disagrees with Cruz, then Cruz is an establishment puppet.
I don’t want violence either, I pray for peace and all involved, but I don’t know if ‘standing down’ is the answer....
Without the Bundy’s actions, we would not be aware of what the feds are getting away with out West and talking about it.
Our talking isn’t going to stop the feds getting what they want, the Bundy’s have been able through their actions last year to stop the feds dead in their tracks regarding their family land.
I am torn, but I’m not exactly jumping on Ted’s bandwagon in this case with ‘stand down’.
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