I'd like to recommend two articles to your attention. Both have been spreading around the blogosphere today.
The first is a long, but very thought-provoking post over at Taxicab Depressions. It's titled 'The Pig Trap', and uses that analogy to describe what the unelected bureaucracy running the federal government appears to be trying to do to us. I'm not sure whether or not I fully agree with the author's perspective, but I certainly agree with parts of it. Highly recommended reading.
Second, National Review Online has an acerbic take on the response of the US government to the Bundy standoff. Money quote:
One can be a supporter of the rule of law and still recoil in anger and disgust from the militarized display of force by the federal government toward Clive Bundy ... The appalling contempt this government has shown toward its citizens and the rule of law is the context in which the Bundy-BLM confrontation is playing out. It’s a context that further diminishes, rather than enhances, Americans’ respect for the rule of law.
More and more I'm getting the impression that the Bundy standoff may prove to have been a turning point in the way Americans relate to their government. I certainly hope so.
Peter
Too early to tell, but if I had to bet it means the FedGov will turn to using more IRS audits, EPA and OSHA "compliance" inspections, and similar regulatory approaches. Harder to fight, don't make for bad camera scenes, difficult to sound-bite.
ReplyDeleteBundy has embarrassed the Gov't, and they will totally screw him in the end. They have vastly more money, time, and people to keep him tied up in legal paperwork.
But I *hope* you are right, that it woke a few people up, and made them realize that things are not right in DC, and a lot of those guys with badges are NOT your friends.
"The Pig Trap" hearkens back to an old story -- a most illustrative one -- about "The Wild Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp." I've reposted it.
ReplyDeleteMy in-laws, who are ordinarily very liberal, just returned from their snowbird journey to AZ. It seems the "evil" BLM down in that area is closing down ATV trails, and harassing mining claim operators with all their new regulations, to run everyone off of BLM lands. I tried to make them see the parallels with the Bundy case, with perhaps limited success.
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