An Associated Press dispatch reported Cliven Bundy told an Independent American Party gathering in St. George, Utah, last weekend God provided him personal inspiration in his showdown with the federal government over grazing cattle on public land about 80 miles north of Las Vegas Nev.
He has grazed his livestock on Bureau of Land Management grass the past 20 years without a permit and consequently without paying for the privilege. Fed up, the feds came calling, which created a furor when state rights activists showed up with guns to side with Bundy.
When an Old West shoot-out seemed in the offing, BLM agents wisely backed down. Now, the federal government is seeking redress — payment of grazing bills — through the courts.
Bundy said he didn’t recognize federal authority over public land, probably in large measure because the feds claim he owes $1 million in unpaid rent for the past two decades.
Whether God sided with the renegades is a decision left to a higher power, but in the New Testament Jesus does admonish folks “to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” or in this case, it would seem, rent for grazing rights.
What will transpire is far from etched in stone, but the circumstances would seem to support the government’s contentions, albeit the feds were a bit tardy in bringing things to a head.
Bundy essentially is stealing from us all by not meeting his BLM land use obligations.
— Bob Johnson
Belligerent rancher is in the wrong
