FLASHBACK: HOW DID THIS START?
Liberal 'Criminal' Senator Harry Reid made an economic deal to use public lands, one in which he stood to make a good deal of money. The problem was that a family, that had been grazing cattle on those public lands for about 100 years, was currently grazing cattle on the land. So Reid and the Dept of Land management ordered a US citizen, part of the public, who was using the public lands, as his family had done for almost 100 years or so, so that Senator Harry Reid could go through with his personal use of public lands to make more money. The family refused to do so. They filed numerous legal briefs / suits / documents...they were at an impasse, and the rancher refused to move his cattle.
SO, the Department of Land Management sent their own private ARMY to the lands. They threatened the rancher and his family. Their snipers reportedly placed their rifle crosshairs on the heads of the ranchers wife, sons, and daughters, demonstrating they were willing to kill American citizens to take control of PUBLIC lands so Harry Reid could make a personal profit. The Department of Land Management STOLE hundreds of the man's cows he had grazing on the land and slaughtered them. (Where's PETA or those other animal rights 'terrorists' when you need them?)
FINALLY a HUGE number of US Citizen Militia members flocked in to help the farmer. Their numbers ... and firepower... almost matched the Dept of Land management's own 'army'. (WHT TF does Land Management have an army, military vehicles, equipment, guns?) The stand-off was widely reported. The administration had learned it's lesson from the failed WACO disaster and did NOT want the killing of Bundy's wife and kids reported and / or a 'civil war' between a militia and the Dept of Land management, so they stepped down. They took their 'toys of war' and 'murderous snipers' and went home...allowing everything to dissolve. This, as everyone knew, was not over by far.
Wisely, one of Bundy's sons was arrested away from the ranch, where there was no serious confrontation .(Which is what they should have done to the leader of the Waco compound rather than wade in and kill innocents.) Now we have the Bundy family and more militia members supporting the family taking over government buildings in protest of what's going on.
Don't get me wrong - I believe that taking over these buildings is wrong, but the Govt pushed this family to the point where they feel they have no other option. They could go the legal right, to use the law to fight the law that is trying to (to some extent) screw them. They don't seem any way that going through the rigged legal system.
It started, however, with Harry Reid's personal deal and desire to use public lands for himself to make more money. Doesn't that greedy, self-serving millionaire POS have enough money? Does he really want 'blood', to kill, jail, or destroy a family in order to get more?!
The whole case, with the govt's abuse of power, the fact that agencies like the Dept of Land Management has it's own 'military', and how they are willing to destroy and kill families in the pursuit of their own personal gain, has proven WHT Americans need to own their own guns, WHY militia's like the one that came to the Bundy's rescue are needed. This was a definite case of the govt going out of control. People are pissed at cope for 'excessive use of force' when in this initial case our government illegally stole and slaughtered hundreds of privately owned cows because they were 'in the govt's way' and had snipers point their weapons at the heads of a rancher's wife and children's heads because they refused to surrender to the govt's will.
THAT should scare the hell out of a lot of people.
In the end, though, despite what has pushed things this far, the protestors and Bundy family will have to pay for breaking the law. I have to admit, though...in the time to come, I wonder if anyone will look back and see this as a critical, pivotal turning point, a time when instead of siding with the government we should not have all sided with this family in their opposition to a government that has become dictators, stripping more and more rights from citizens, and imposing THEIR will on the rest of us?!