A rancher just outside Nevada has put up a sustained effort to keep from removing his cattle from Federal land. I've not followed this case much but from what I've deemed it appears that he has done this for 20 years.

I've thought of these situations many times over the years and I've wondered how people think they have the right to utilize resources on land they do not own. If this rancher owned this 600,000 acres then I might support his claim to use it any damn way he chooses but he doesn't own it, and for 20 years he has stopped paying leasing fees, as I understand.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/us/nevada-rancher-rangers-cattle-showdown/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


As usual, some of the comments are most interesting. I rather agree with one who posted this

And by "liberty", you mean ignoring laws you don't think should apply to you? This has been going on for twenty years. That is federal land and grazing on it costs money. Just like any other federally owned resource, if you use it, you should have to pay for that use. This guy believes those laws don't apply to him. He's a parasite. Cloaking his stupidity in the language moronic wingnuts love, he's somehow convinced a fair amount of people his stealing from the federal government is okay. These same people will wax poetic about the "culture of dependency" created when a single mother working a minimum wage job takes sixty bucks a week in food stamp benefits to feed her kids. This guy has been stealing from the feds for so long he considers it his birthright. He's fought a long legal battle and he lost. He is refusing to abide by the resulting court order. That makes him a criminal. No different than a welfare cheat. No one defends the right of a welfare cheat to game the system but because this guy wears a cowboy hat, people think his criminal behavior should be celebrated.


Dave

A hard-on for the Oathkeepers.

If the land is common land, then why shouldn't he or anyone else use it? That used to be the way that common land worked, anyway, so the Boston Common was common pasturage for anyone who had cattle to feed. It stopped being that a long while ago and became property of the City of Boston. I guess that's the status of federal lands? The feds "own" it so it's not common land?

Sigh.
One of my acquaintances is a conspiracy nut, and sure enough, "Lock and Load!", they are headed to Nevada with all the ammo they can carry. "Remember Waco!" is their rally cry…
I swear, these people WANT a revolution. They WANT to take down the big bad government. They WANT to kill every living being that doesn't agree with them. WTF is wrong with these people???

and

eeeeYUP.

That is true. It's just that some of the ranchers have large ranches but still want to use public lands to support massive herds. Realizing that it takes much more acreage to support a cow-calf in arid lands, then it would in other more greener regions. . Water and it's control is also a major issue

I hope there is no violence over this.

Dave

FOX news would be glad to think they have such influence

Dave

Me too.

American people are really screwed up today with this type of thinking.