Cliven Bundy, dolt.

Clive Bundy is stealing from someone

Have you heard about Cliven Bundy, the Nevadan rancher who suddenly stopped paying federal grazing fees in 1993, and now owes the federal government about $1.2M?

In his confused claim of being a victim of an over-sized federal government, he pointed to and attracted anti-federalists who believed states should have greater rights than the federal government, and that government should weaker.  I don't think I need to point out the failure of his logic: Were Nevada to own the land on which his cattle grazed, he'd still have to pay grazing fees to Nevada.  Nevada State Parks charges fees.  Nevada has a mining tax, too.  Were that land held privately, someone would be charging Mr. Bundy for his cattle grazing on it, and it would be a lot more expensive than either state or federal rates.  Check your local parking meters and garages.  Private ones charge a lot more, while public ones charge a lot less.

You don't get to continue to enjoy using something that you've stopped paying for.  You have the right to complain about anything you want, but if you're still using it and not paying for it, you're just expressing a self-entitled egotism.

Embracing Libertarian anti-federalism means you stop receiving your federal subsidy of cheap grazing rights, let alone not paying for it but continuing to use it.  You pay market rate or you shut the hell up about that subsidy.

Classic foot in mouth, Part I

You knew it'd happen eventually.  Earlier this week Mr. Bundy went off on how "the negro" was better off as a slave picking cotton.

"I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro ... I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy?"




African-Americans probably don't take kindly to the lack of reparations by those slave owners.  I think it would be appropriate to check the Bundy family tree for slave owners, don't you?

Classic foot in mouth, part II

At first reaction, Mr. Bundy was unapologetic, standing by his comments and continuing to refer to African-Americans as "negro". Then one of his daughters came to his defense, saying that he was taken out of context and had no bearing on the issue of grazing fees and federal control.

But today Mr. Bundy offered the most ridiculous apology saying, "I’m probably one of the most non-racist people in America."

So hold on here for a moment.  A guy who openly referred to African-Americans as "negros", now tells us that he's the least racist person in America?  Holy shit, folks, we've had a Mother Theresa with us the whole time, we just didn't understand how he communicated to us!

It gets better (or worse, depending on your level of cynicism).

Classic foot in mouth, part III

In an effort to rephrase his comment from yesterday, his handlers issued a public statement saying, "We Americans are trading one form of slavery for another. All of us are in some measure slaves of the federal government."

Except, slavery is involuntary and taking handout money from the federal government is purely voluntary.  No one has forced Americans in poverty from taking handouts from the federal government; for that matter no one has forced Americans to take handouts from charity groups either.

But as previously noted, he's not paying for grazing, and if the federal government doesn't receive compensation for, is 100% charity.  No matter who owns the land -- whether federal, state, county or private entity -- he'd owe someone money, but because government fees are primarily driven by costs and not profit, he'd be getting a heck of a subsidy were he paying his grazing fees.

Bottom line

So, would you rather be a cotton picking slave or a rancher getting a subsidy for your cattle grazing?

Hypocrite.