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Mercer: Why the land belongs to Bundy
[WND] A writer for The Atlantic has faulted Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who is in mutiny against the federal government, for his interpretation of states' rights. No wonder. The progressive magazine's scribe views states' rights much as the Beltway-based lite libertarian would -- he thinks that the division of powers between state governments and the federal government has left the states in charge of pot, poker and porn. The proper expression of "genuine states' rights," opines the Atlantic, is passing "permissive laws on divorce, gambling and prostitution," "abortion and same-sex marriage."I guess cleaving to a somewhat frivolous notion of states' rights is better than framing a conflict that has roiled the country as no more than a local skirmish. The last bit of casuistry belongs to the Washington Post. Farmer Bundy is no lifestyle libertarian; he's a hardcore libertarian -- a libertarian who rejects federal authority over state land and does not recognize the federal government. Bundy faced down the goons from the federal Bureau of Land Management. They had come to steal his livestock, in lieu of back taxes the BLM claims the rancher owes it since 1993, which was when Bundy stopped paying grazing fees. The Bundys of Bunkerville, Nevada, had homesteaded the disputed land, southwest of Mesquite, in 1877. Bundy's forefathers had lived off the land well before the Bureau of Land Grabs came into being. The feds subsequently passed laws usurping Bundy's natural right to graze his cattle. The elderly rancher offered the following rejoinder: "'I have raised cattle on that land, which is public land for the people of Clark County, all my life. Why I raise cattle there and why I can raise cattle there is because I have pre-emptive rights, among them the right to forage." She quotes John Locke. Intelligent, thoughtful and well done. Perhaps Mercer has ended tireless Bush whacking. But who better to understand a rogue regime's diefstal [theft] van die land. Posted by: Besoeker 2014-04-26 |
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