The recent events at the former Malheur Wildlife Refuge (now called the Harney County Resource Center) are just the latest wave of the well-justified Sagebrush Rebellion that has been going on in western states for 30+ years. Even though they lack any constitutional authority over land that should rightfully belong to the States (per Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17), bureaucrats from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been riding roughshod over the west. They have been doing so through their often capricious and dictatorial policies on grazing, timber cutting, mining, weed control, access to water, hunting, recreational shooting, fencing, gates, predator control, invasive species, and access by inholding landowners. Increasingly, the divide between “We The People” and the bureaucrats has become a gaping chasm. And the “Occupy Malheur” protest is not just an isolated incident. For example, see what has been going on for months in Nevada, as described in this recent L.A. Times article: Tension between ranchers and federal officials is dangerously high in Nevada.
Parenthetically, I must mention that I disagree with the tactics chosen by Ammon Bundy and his compatriots. I think that it was foolish of them to take over a Federal government building, to try to prove their point. Instead, they should have set up tents, or simply pulled in with RVs, pickup campers, and camping trailers, to camp for the duration. That way they would have only have been committing a string of misdemeanors. But by breaking into that building, they committed a felony, from the outset. I believe that decision will come back to haunt them. If the siege goes on, it will likely result in them being isolated from resupply and more importantly isolated from the media attention that they deserve. (Since it can be treated as the scene of an ongoing “felony crime”, the FBI can block roads to the site, at will.)
That leads me to a key point: How should we respond, as individuals? First, I recommend that We The People vociferously make our concerns known and demand a redress of grievances. Write your elected representatives and demand that Federal lands be returned to the States. Write letters to the editor of every publication that you can think of. Call for town hall meetings, throughout the country. Start petition drives for pardons for the Hammond family. Alert your friends, and ask them to do likewise. If you are worried about eventual persecution or prosecution over this, then do all of the aforementioned anonymously. If you don’t yet use VPN, the Tor browser, and the IXQuick search engine, then you should start doing so, immediately. Note: If you don’t understand what those are, then you need to do some research and get smart about protecting your online privacy. Do it now.
If anyone chooses to go and support the Malheur occupiers directly, then I would recommend that you be wise and do so with your faces covered. It is probably a good time to buy a supply of Guy Fawkes masks. Do not let your license plates be seen at or near the Harney County Resource Center. Ride in on bikes, horses, or ATVs. (Unfortunately, annual $10 serialized ATV permit stickers are required in Oregon, but a large, well-positioned glob of mud or grease should help wonderfully.)
This level of secrecy might seem paranoid to some, but just take a minute to consider the plight of the 106 bikers who were the recipients of indictments handed out wholesale by a Texas grand jury in 2015. The majority of those men did not come to the Twin Peaks bar in Waco looking for a fight, and very few of them actually fired a shot. They just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It is uncertain how the Malheur standoff will end. Hopefully it will end peacefully and with a restoration of Constitutional government. But given the vindictive nature of our government, I suspect that even if Ammon Bundy and his friends walk away from the Harney County Resource Center, it will end in some messy criminal prosecutions that may result in the loss of their voting and gun ownership rights, for life.
Everyone reading this needs to have Plan B and a Plan C. I predict that a wave of persecution in our nation is looming on the horizon. Sadly, things will probably get worse before they get better. So plan accordingly. At the very minimum, cache some of your guns, ammo, and precious metals–either under ground or above ground. It is also wise to update your passports and get passports for any family members who lack them.
Most of all, please pray for our nation. – JWR