Very few understand or care about this fact.
“Well I would just encourage - well, one, I think that is the minority. But I would encourage people to look into what is really happening and find out who is truly doing the terrorizing,” Bundy replied. “Who has been taking ranches? This refuge alone, over 100 ranches have been taken so they can make this refuge.”
“Who has been taking ranches? This refuge alone, over 100 ranches have been taken so they can make this refuge.â€
This is the same logic and argument used by Native Americans who claim the land never belonged to the ranchers or the U.S. government that purchased it when they lived on it - the Indians were there long before the government purchased it. That tribe took it from the tribe that possessed it before them who likely took it from the first tribes that lived there.
This refuge started in the early 1900’s from what I read. Anyone who thinks the voters in Oregon would do anything other than expand the refuge knows nothing about the State of Oregon so turning the land over to the state would not change anything for the ranchers.
Much like the Bundy situation the claim that “100 ranches have been taken” ignores the fact that most willingly sold out because nobody in their family wanted to continue ranching. My neighbor has the most cattle of anyone in our county and his sons grew up helping. All three of them have families and jobs that they like so near the end of my life they will probably sell out. Nobody will “take anything” from them and he has grazing rights on Fed and state lands.
Family ranching and family farming struggles to compete with corporate ranches and farming just as small businesses lost out to the big box stores. Many of those big box stores will go under due to Amazon and other online retailers and life goes on. As a “hobby farmer” who enjoys living out in the country it makes me sad, but probably not as sad as the Indians who watched their way of life disappear. That is not being reflected in the sympathetic articles and opinion pieces I am reading here and elsewhere.
BLM is a mess. Government land regulation and control is a mess at both the Federal and state level here in the West. Those claiming that the states (I generally support turning much of the land over) would be far better know little about the state (and even local governments) in Oregon or Washington. They may be even “worse” from the perspective of Bundy and his followers. There is certainly room for improvement, but this situation is many shades of gray even removing any suggestion of other illegal activity.