If all your friends jumped off a cliff would you do it too?

I was in favor of the Bundy Revolt from day one. I am completely tired of the purple grape logos on everything in Oregon. It kind of annoys me when my wife introduces me to people in Portland and they ask about my vineyard. I hate the new sidewalks in Amity. I am mildly annoyed by the Blue Goat and I don't like people who have more money than I.
So I was pretty happy when I heard Al Bundy was taking it to the streets. I didn't really understand why he was doing it in Nevada but my attention span is not long enough to make it though a whole news broadcast anyway.

I was really worried Kelly Bundy might need a little comforting. I'd volunteer for that job but I doubt the lovely and gracious Mrs. Shephard would approve. Unless I could convince her it was for charity work. I doubt that would even work.
But then I realized that Kelly no longer looks the same as she did a couple years decade or so, ago...

Then I discovered it was not Al Bundy revolting because of a beer tax but an old dude by the name of Cliven Bundy who was revolting about a cow tax.
Of course the authorities were over-reacting. If Al Bundy revolts over beer taxes than everybody will revolt over taxes. Yup...25 years later another Bundy jumps off the same cliff! This time over cows, who would have thunk! See what violence on TV does for you?
So anyway....
The slippery slope theory is pretty much official US policy.
It is often used to justify excesses in regulation. If one kid drowns in a five gallon plastic bucket then every kid needs to be protected from five gallon buckets.
It was kind of amazing to see the support Mr. Bundy gained in his dispute with the BLM.
Here is a good quote that really gives us an understanding of the somewhat benign oppression we live under.
This is from a superintendent of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area who had issues with Mr. B in the past,
"“He calls himself a patriot, and says he loves America,” Mr. O’Neill said. “And yet he says he won’t follow any federal laws. You just can’t let this go by, or everybody is going to be like, ‘If Bundy can break the law, why can’t I?"
In the aftermath of this little crisis I keep looking for the other shoe to drop.
How will the like-minded "accidental" conspiracy of correct thinking folks, (people from Portland and your neighbor with the Obama yard sign and anyone in the news or education business) spin this story.
The way I see it and the way people I sell hay to see it, is Bundy was making a statement against the over-reach of Federal regulations and land grabbing. It was the same sort of protest as not paying a tax on the tea. I don't see it as stealing my money because I don't see it as my land. I'm not part of the collective. I don't own it. I can't pick up a rock or a turtle or a arrowhead or a hundred year old beer can and bring it home. I have to have a permit to set foot on it. It ain't mine. The Federal gubment is not me. If it were me then I would have been asked if I wanted to torture crazy Islamic people or spend a decade not winning a war and enriching horrible people.
But, I digress...
I keep watching for the one step forward two-steps back thing, (or is it two steps forward one step back)
Big event, lots of noise, public back down, respectable waiting period, quietly moving back in...and old Mr. Bundy is toast...
We are now seeing the "marginalization" of Mr. Bundy. First he was ignored, then he won and couldn't be ignored, now it is blame the victim time or defamation of character time. Let the guy talk and he will say something we can use against him time.
The news media is all over the Cliven Bundy racist theme. They already believed that because he was a White Christian, Rural Person, with a Southernish accent.
Of course what he said is what everybody suspects but will not say in public. You can see it with white "lower income" people all around us. They get just enough money from the government to live without working and then they take drugs, steal, screw, engage in illegal activity, but to quote the Johnny Cash song, "They Never Picked Cotton."
Now standing up and saying, "The N.... would have been better off under s......" is blasphemy in the new world order. It is funny to say to get people angry in an argument with the local democrat but it is an overstatement that is not really true. Cliven Bundy and a whole host of supporters were willing to chose arrest, death, and now IRS audits, rather than live in Slavery to the US gubment/BLM.  I think that what he wanted to do is compare the Slavery the N.... is living in today with the actual Slavery they came out of. But, that is a sort of philosophical argument that you can argue over beer (not wine) and  you can't make that sort of statement in public if you are White. It violates the undeniable virtue of the oppressed. You can't even say it if your are black. (I wonder if that sort of talk is what really got MLK shot.)

Important points that Lar larson missed when he traced the range law back to pre-statehood and decided he was very very clever by ignoring the point of the whole episode.
-The supporters of Cliven Bundy were standing against excessive taxation.  The over-reach of the Federal Government. Against issues like abuse of imminent domain, user fees which are collected to improve things and then are actually used to keep you out of whatever you were paying to use.
-Excessive Force by the Feds against an everyday Bozo. Cliven could have been arrested when he went to town for milk. (if there was authority to arrest him) A lien could have been placed on his cows and any money from the sale of cows would go to the BLM. This is done all the time with bill collection so I don't understand why that was not an option.
Machine guns and Military force is pretty insane. You don't see pictures of the BLM using this kind of force against drug operations on BLM land.
-The rather terrifying fact that a significant number of people no longer see our government as legitimate. (perhaps I'm not saying it correctly) The US gubment has ruled by the consent of the US people. Taking up guns to prevent the Feds from taking cows is revoking that consent. You can see it all though our culture. People are avoiding taxes, posting photos of cops beating people up, stocking up on ammunition, not voting, and so on.
The deal was, the gubment won't oppress the American people and we won't revolt. That is why the first and second amendments are so important. The problem is that no one in the gubment understands this and they just add more oppression to attempt to get more control and they get more and more out of touch with the people.
So.. who knows what will happen.
There is no leadership in the country. You can see it on the local level and it goes on up. There are No church leaders, no real community leaders, no national leaders. There is no person in leadership anywhere who has any integrity. Everyone is on their own...