This is the second in a series of articles. Part 1 can be read here.
The Shot Heard Round the World
From a distance, the Sovereign Movement appears to be little more than series of scams and schemes, wrapped in patriotic terms. Based on recent articles, blogs, and comments, many people have assumed that Cliven Bundy is just a greedy man looking for a way to line his pockets on the government's dime.
For most Sovereigns, however, the American Dream is not defined as a comfortable home and happy family. Their goals are substantially more ambitious and hopelessly futile; they want to return the United States to a romanticized version of the 18th century, and fervently believe that they have the numbers and resources to achieve this fictional goal.
To do this, they need to get rid of the U.S. government. They start by filing thousands of meaningless legal documents in federal, state, and local courts. When that doesn't work, some preach violent insurrection. They call it the Second American Revolution, the VBR (Very Bloody Revolution), or, most recently, the American Spring.
Militias Are On [sic] Route to Help Cliven Bundy – Face Off With Feds: Will this be the Start of the 2nd American Revolution? Source: Freedom Outpost, April 10, 2014
The movement believes with an almost religious conviction that the majority of Americans agree with these goals and objectives, but that apathy and nefarious, shadowy forces in the government and press prevent any large-scale uprising from happening.
Therefore, to rally the American public into action, the Sovereign leaders need a big event, a shot heard round the world, a catalyst to cause citizens to aim their guns at government employees and for the U.S. military troops to abandon their posts and join the revolution. Over the years, the armed standoff has been by far the most effective technique in gaining publicity and new recruits to the cause, and the movement doesn't seem to care that the press they attract paints them as violent fools, rather than patriots.
The history of the patriot standoff goes back decades. Gordon Kahl in the 1980s, the Montana Freemen in the 1990s, Edward and Elaine Brown in the 2000s, all played David to the federal government's Goliath. A sovereign named John Joe Gray has even been holed up in his Texas compound now for fourteen years.
Obviously, none of these events trigged a revolution. The early 1990s government standoffs involving the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, and the family of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, were different. In these confrontations, women and children died, and the modern militia movement grew rapidly in response. These events were also what prompted Timothy McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma City. McVeigh had hoped that by blowing up a building filled with federal employees, he could make his place in history as the next Patrick Henry.
Women and children first
From the very beginning of the Bunkerville standoff, the Bundy family, their supporters, and the early media who helped them recruit newcomers, all attempted to characterize this conflict as the next Waco or Ruby Ridge.
Therefore, when the armed Bundy crowd engaged the Bureau of Land Management on April 12th, they used children as human shields.
Reporter Michael Flynn: We saw some younger people down there that looked like they might have been children. Do you think that was wise to have those kids down there? Do you think it could have turned dangerous?
Bundy Sniper: That might have been the only thing that kept them from getting gassed. They threatened to shoot chemicals into that crowd.
Reporter: Do you think that it was good to have the kids down there then?
Bundy Sniper: Absolutely.
Reporter: Do you think this could potentially have turned violent?
Bundy Supporter: Absolutely.
Source: Southern Utah Independent Video Interview of Bundy Supporter/Sniper Eric Parker, April 12, 2014
In a second video, a female supporter responded to similar questions:
"You know what, if they're in the line of fire then bad on the sheriff … I think it's fine … It's (a dangerous situation) because the government has made it such … it's got to stop somewhere." Source: Southern Utah Independent, Video of Standoff, April 12, 2014
Former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack caused a stir when he suggested on the national news that dead women be used as shields just to add shock value to the situation once shots were fired.
"We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front. If they are going to start shooting, it's going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers." Source: Fox News, April 14, 2014
Mack later clarified his remarks by saying that the women had volunteered to become human shields.
Word blender arguments
While the patriot community has gone through many changes over the last fifty years, the legal techniques remain the same: 1) establish a goal, 2) cobble together unrelated and out-of-context legal quotes to seem to ensure that you achieve that goal, 3) when these fail, blame government corruption or a massive conspiracy, and 4) punish those that got in your way with liens, threats, and in extreme cases, violence.
In the early 1990s, Cliven Bundy, along with several other ranchers located in western states, picked a fight with the U.S. government in an effort to have their states claim ownership of all federal land within state borders. They twisted the meaning of laws, relied on one part of the U.S. Constitution while ignoring another, used out of context quotes from a Supreme Court case that didn't apply, and fabricated a rule about ancestral grazing rights.
These tactics failed in court every time, and the federal judges involved ordered that the trespass cattle be removed from the land. Bundy has repeatedly threatened those involved with liens and implied that he would resort to violence if the cattle roundup continued.
"Should you take part in any confiscation of the above property, Mr. Bundy and his heirs, et al. will institute an action against all parties, individually, who take or have taken an active role in said confiscation. There will be liens upon any and all property and accounts." Bundy website, April 12, 2012
For years, Bundy had been threatening to "do whatever it takes to protect his property," to engage the government in a "range war" and when peaceful protesting didn't work to "take it more physical."
Mrs. Bundy has threatened federal agents as well.
"I've got a shotgun. It's loaded and I know how to use it. We're ready to do what we have to do, but we'd rather win this in the court of public opinion." Source: Las Vegas Sun, September 23, 2013
Cliven Bundy, like so many in the movement, is inconsistent in how he characterizes his relationship with the federal government. He told ABC News, "I don't recognize the United States government as even existing," yet he said, "I abide by almost zero federal laws" to the Las Vegas Sun. When directly pressed on his tax compliance, he responded, "Yes, I pay federal income taxes. I have paid into Medicare and Social Security as well."
The inconsistency continues in the statements made by Bundy and his family members on his "ancestral grazing rights." Details of these declarations will be further explored in the third part of this series.
Historically ignorant and tone deaf
Most Bundy supporters seem to be unaware of the history of the movement they have joined. On the various social networking support pages, they post a seemingly endless stream of Nazi-based propaganda photos.
In one picture, for example, they have cut-and-pasted the photographs of at least fourteen BLM and police employees tasked with protecting the hired hands rounding up the cattle. Above the picture montage is the caption: "The faces of those who just followed orders at the Bundy Ranch. The Next Nuremburg?" So far, more than 4,600 people have shared this photo on Facebook.
These supporters apparently don't know that the Sovereign movement was started in the mid-1960s by a group of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Southern California. Nestled into the various sovereign legal theories are subtle references to everything from holocaust denial and anti-Semitic conspiracies to slavery apologist myths. Considering that African Americans have been joining the movement in large numbers for the last three years, this lack of historical context is troubling.
In Part 3 in this series, I continue my discussion in the various ways that Sovereign beliefs have shaped Bundy's decisions.
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