As the Nevada standoff came to an end, the former head of the Montana Policy Institute pens a column for The Washington Times saying, “There’s a war on the West that is turning into a war for the West.”
Carl Graham is now the Director of The Sutherland Center for Self Government in the West. Here’s an excerpt from his piece:
This latest uprising, much like the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s, is the result of politicized federal bureaucracies choosing sides and emphasizing coercion over cooperation in their management of public lands and environmental policies.
What’s different this time is that Western states have a plan to save their economies and rural way of life.
Thus far, five Western states have passed laws that either study or outright demand the return of most federal lands to state control. In this era of heavy-handed, top-down management, rural communities have little left to lose as ideology-driven federal policies demean their traditional lifestyles and choke their economies.
By the way, I spoke with Carl Graham on our statewide radio talk show, Voices of Montana, Monday morning. Click here to listen to the first half of the show.
Speaking of the Nevada standoff, as RedState.com notes, Fox News reported on the end to the standoff over the weekend.
RedState.com also added:
Regardless of where our readers fall on the legality of action on either side in this dispute, it is inarguable that it has stirred up a real hornets nest regarding the clash of individual freedom and government intervention and control. It is certain that today’s truce will not be the end of this story.
Is Harry Reid Involved? That and six other questions are answered in this must-read article posted by TheBlaze.com: Seven Answers to Seven Questions You’re Probably Asking Right Now About the Nevada Rancher Situation
7. Does Sen. Harry Reid have a connection to the Bureau of Land Management?
In a way, yes.
The new head of the Bureau of Land Management recently served as senior policy adviser to Nevada’s Democratic Sen. Harry Reid.
Neil Kornze, 35, left Reid’s office (where he managed public land issues) in 2011 to join the Bureau of Land Management as senior adviser to the director. He later became the deputy director for policy and programs in 2013.
The U.S. Senate then voted 71-28 on April 8, 2014, to confirm Kornze as the new director of the agency.
6. Is Harry Reid working with the Chinese to force the Bundys out?
The facts don’t support it.
Reid and his son, Rory, were both deeply involved in a deal with the Chinese-owned ENN Energy Group to build a $5 billion solar farm in Laughlin, Nevada. But that is roughly 177 miles away from Bundy’s 150-acre ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., and 213 miles from the federally owned Gold Butte area where Bundy ‘s cattle graze, according to Google Maps.
No matter which side is right or wrong, it is clear that federal officials went overboard in the response. The whole matter is summed up fairly nicely with these words from The Western Word blog in Great Falls, Montana:
So now the feds have probably spent more on this failed operation than they were owed by Cliven Bundy.
That, my faithful readers, is the federal government we know best…