Update on Nevada Showdown

                About three weeks ago the federal government decided to do something about Cliven Bundy’s cattle that has been grazing illegally on government property near Bunkerville, Nevada, for the past twenty years.  Federal officials showed up in force and began to round up Bundy’s cattle.  When militia groups came to stand with the Bundy family, the government officials backed down, claiming they were doing so to avoid violence.

                At the present time there are still groups of militia surrounding the Bundy ranch.  About fifty people are staying at the ranch and living in tents; they claim they are prepared to stay for a long time, maybe even months.  Many, if not all, of the supporters are members of the Oath Keepers, men who have pledged their lives and fortunes in their efforts to keep the oaths they made to protect and defend the Constitution.

                Now the militia members are worried that federal agents have infiltrated their group and are gathering information to make arrests.  Needless to say, this has caused an increase of tensions among the group.  Even with the increased tensions, the militia members have no plans to desert Bundy.

                With the spotlight on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) zealously defending its land in Nevada, it seems only fair to enlighten the nation on just how much land the federal government owns in Nevada.  According to data published by the Congressional Research Service

and reported by Terence P. Jeffrey at cnsnews.com,   “The acreage the federal Bureau of Land Management currently owns in the state of Nevada is more than all the land in all of the states of New England combined.”

                New England is comprised of the following states:  Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The combined acreage in these six states totals 40,400,640 acres.  Together these states have zero number of acres of BLM land. 

                The State of “Nevada contains a total of 70,264,320 acres.  Of these, the federal government owns 56,961,778 acres, or 81.1 percent of the state.  That leaves only 13,302,542, or 18.9 percent of the state for owners other than the federal government.

                “The federal government, in other words, owns more than four times as much land in Nevada as all other land owners combined.

                “Of the 56,961,778 acres of Nevada owned by the federal government, the BLM controls 47,805,923 acres.  That is about 84 percent of the federally owned land in the state and 68 percent of all the land in the state.

                “The 47,805,923 acres that BLM owns in Nevada is 7,405,283 acres more – or 18.3 percent more – than all of New England.”  

        

                This information makes me wonder why in the world Harry Reid and the federal government are so determined to gain control of the Bundy ranch.  Don’t they have enough Nevada land without the Bundy ranch?

                According to Matt Shipley at canadafreepress.com, the incident in Nevada is not the only property grab the federal government has pulled.  There was “a similar incident between the U.S. Forest Service and Kit Laney in New Mexico, in which the Forest Service claims part of the Laney Ranch is on Federal property.  [It] has the same basic principle at stake and it has nothing to do with grazing rights or boundary disputes.  Those issues are moot points if we answer a more basic question:  what legal authority and for what purpose does the Federal Government have to `own’ property in the United States?”

                Shipley wrote a long article explaining why the federal government does not have the authority to “own” a very large percentage of the land in the Western United States.  He gives the actual source for his belief:  Property Clause from Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution.  “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States….”

                Shipley concluded his long article, “Without any foundation in American jurisprudence, Justice Marshall conjured up legislative power where there was none previously.  Along with the mythical legislative power came police power of the national government to enforce laws passed by Congress.  This erosion of limited government through judicial fiat has led to the charade in which we now find ourselves.  The myth of full legislative power over all public property in the United States has emboldened nationally elected politicians to reward their political supporters, through exclusive commercial access to public property, or attempt to enrich themselves as Harry Reid seems to be doing in the Bundy case.

                “This might explain why Harry Reid called Cliven Bundy and his supporters unpatriotic domestic terrorists at a televised event hosted by the Las Vegas Journal-Review on April 18, 2014.  When one cannot logically attack their opponent’s argument they attack their character, which is the logical fallacy of ad hominem attack.  Perhaps Reid’s definition of a patriot is one who uses political power to enrich themselves and squash ordinary citizens trying to live their lives as their ancestors had for many years.

                “Make no mistake, the Bundy and Laney incidents are not about grazing rights or boundary disputes, and even though the government seems to put the welfare of `endangered’ species over the welfare of citizens it is not about that either.  It is about government control.

                “The more `We the people’ allow our national government to usurp power, the harder it will be for us to restore what has been unlawfully taken from us.  Please do not be fooled by mischaracterizations of what is happening, if `We the people’ allow this to happen to the Bundy’s and Laney’s of this world, it is just a matter of time before the government will be doing similar things to you.”

                “We the people” are in the unfortunate position of not knowing who or what to believe.  The President of the United States, the President of the U.S. Senate, and other national leaders have been caught in so many lies that we are leery to believe anything they tell us.  The main-stream media refuses to do the investigative reporting that is their duty.  “We the people” are left to dig out the truth in any way we can.  We need to be alert and well informed about the happenings in our nation and world.  We can no longer afford to sit back and let someone else take care of things.  We all need to be on the front lines-- right in the trenches – in defending our freedoms and liberties.  Are you doing your part?