As a liberal and a city boy, I have always tended to view the whole Patriot movement (Oath Keepers, Posse Comitatus, private militias, etc) as a bunch of selfish, racist, violence-prone lunatics who don’t have much grip on political reality and even fewer social skills. The Oregon standoff, along with the Bundy ranch debacle, and even going back to the Oklahoma City bombing and the Waco shootout, have all seemed to be woven from the same piece of cloth, representing the refusal of the RW to recognize the right of the USG to limit their freedom to use or destroy anything and everything they choose to use or destroy. All the things progressive Americans have worked long and hard to build and protect. They refuse to recognize the right of the USG to legislate in the public interest, if it infringes on their right to do whatever. I view the Patriot movement as the logical culmination of everything that is wrong with the RW in this country.
However, in the interest of fairness and in an attempt to see the world from a red perspective, I read through the excellent history of the Patriot movement at the SPLC website, including the timeline of historical events leading up to the Oregon standoff. I really wanted to see the conflict from a sympathetic conservative perspective. Mark Potok presented a brief summary of the long history of the conflict between public land ownership and use and those opposed to it. The roots of the Patriot movement reach back to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 and the principle of “nullification” of federal laws by individual states promoted by John C Calhoun in 1828, all of which are based on a narrow interpretation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. Many of those philosophical tenets were incorporated into the formation of the Posse Comitatus and its “Guide for Volunteer Christian Posses,” published by William Potter Gale in 1971 (no, I’m not going to reference them, you can Google them yourselves), which essentially rendered the US Constitution invalid and set up a chartered alternative government at the county level that held precedence over the USG in the event of any conflict. Federal ownership and management of public lands has been a friction point between RW ranchers and the Feds that is viewed by the Patriots as an infringement on their freedom to graze their animals where they please, and an illegal usurpation of individual rights by the USG. In the world that the Patriots inhabit, those lands are illegally controlled by the USG and their attempt to take back the land is a noble, sacred cause.
Needless to say, the US Supreme Court is aware of the Tenth Amendment, and they have always ruled in favor of the USG’s right to own and maintain land in the public interest, as well as the right of the USG to raise a federal income tax, to protect consumers from toxic materials, to provide Social Security and Medicare to elderly Americans, to promote and protect civil rights, and to do all the other things that derive from the Interstate Commerce clause of the Constitution, despite RW objections and state and local laws to the contrary. The RW fight against Federal regulation of public lands is a continuation of the same RW fight against every other Federal regulation ever passed, fights they have always lost. Nevertheless, they keep trying. I sympathize. Many of them just want to use federal land for their own use for free. Some may believe they are fighting for a principle. But they are wrong. They may have big guns, but they are still wrong.
OK, now I have tried to see the political landscape from the standpoint of the Patriots, as the arc of a noble historical cause to reject Federal regulation of all things public. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and accept that they are fighting for a principle. Are they a bunch of selfish, racist, violence-prone lunatics? Well, historically, they have attracted selfish, racist, violence-prone lunatics to their cause in great numbers. I am sure that many of them are wonderful human beings. Ammon Bundy may be a loving husband and father. But I still don’t get it. I still believe that the Patriot movement is the extreme culmination of everything that is wrong with the RW in this country. I will have no sympathy when the Malheur protesters and the Bundy ranch protesters and their defenders go to jail. And I will thoroughly enjoy the futile Republican attempts to defend the Oregon occupiers without appearing to be selfish, racist, anarchist asshats themselves.
Saturday, Jan 30, 2016 · 10:34:10 PM +00:00
·
liberaldad2
Wow, so many negative comments. Let me take another shot at explaining my position.
I absolutely agree that all the Bundy occupiers should be prosecuted for breaking any laws, no question. The point I was trying to make is that many of them honestly believe that their cause is just. They have been told that by people close to them over many years.
Many of the Bundy supporters are low-lifes and hooligans who just were attracted to the Refuge by the anti-govt rhetoric and publicity, but I do believe that at least some of the protesters were motivated by what they believe is a just cause.
As fellow liberals and intelligent human beings, I would ask all of you to consider if you have ever believed anything that was clearly wrong because someone you respected told you it was true.
‘Nuff said.