From what I understand the government jacked up the grazing fees so high that it was no longer profitable to raise cattle. They were trying to get them off the land.
OK, that sucks. But an armed standoff doesn't sound like a particularly smart response.
It was always hippies and leftists who wanted to screw the cops, and it concerns me that I'm hearing that more often from the right. In fact, that was one of the key points of David Horowitz's awakening to conservatism, if you've read his book.
I am NOT an anarchist, and I don't support a "screw the cops" philosophy.
“Defendant Harry Reid’s hand-picked Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Neil Kornze, a longtime Reid aide, at the direction of Defendant Harry Reid ordered and sent the equivalent of federal storm-troopers to Plaintiff Bundy’s ranch to seize his and his family’s land and capture and/or harm his cattle, at the direction of Defendant Harry Reid.
These so called federal agents proceeded to threaten the lives of Defendant Bundy and his family at gunpoint, abuse and kill their cattle, including burying bulls in secret mass graves, and assaulting and tasing various Bundy family members to force them off the land.”
The suit goes on to say the reason for the raid was to boot Bundy and his family from the property so federal authorities could sell it “for profit and/or kickbacks by and to Defendants Harry Reid and his son Rory Reid, a Las Vegas lawyer in a secret under the table deal, being then negotiated by Defendant Rory Reid on behalf of himself and his father.”
The complaint alleged the elder Reid, “acting in concert with defendants Rory Reid and Obama, each and every one of them, jointly and severally, issued what in effect were public threats to and made false defamatory statements about Defendant Bundy and his family to further his under the table negotiated deal to seize and sell the Bundy ranch and its chattels, including any remaining cattle, for profit and/or kickbacks from the purchaser, some of whom were reported to be communist Chinese.”
The court documents then refer to Reid’s public references of the Bundy family and supporters as “nothing more than domestic terrorists,” a statement that was widely reported by various media outlets back in April of 2014.