By: Ray
Been doing a slow burn over Bundy and his band off scofflaws and domestic terrorists. I think the Salt Lake Tribune nailed it this morning.
Here's the full editorial:Cliven Bundy and his ragtag band of armed supporters forced the federal government to back down as the roundup of Bundy cattle was called off and the bovines returned to the Nevada rancher.
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Some declared victory and hailed the outcome a clear blow against tyranny and a win for freedom.
Hardly. The only winner in this was a scofflaw who has twice lost in the courts for running cattle where they don't belong and skipping out on grazingfees. Some 20,000 ranchers in Western states abide by BLMregulations, so what makes Bundy special?
What makes Bundy special is the army of self-styled patriots who rallied to his ranch with their guns and grudges. If the government hadn't acted to defuse the situation by backing off and letting Bundy have his win, we might have witnessed Americans shooting Americans over a few cows and a specious interpretation of the Second Amendment and private property rights.
"The victory on Bundy's ranch, backed as it was by the threat of violence, is a danger to the peaceful functioning of a civil society. Swagger and bombast shouldn't become the American way. The government was right to back down to avoid possible bloodshed, but it should employ other means to see that Bundy doesn't profit from his lawlessness," the Tribune editorial board quite rightly intones.
Update 4/16/14 9:00 a.m.: As an added bonus, Standard-Examiner blogger Catherine Burt is blogging on this topic too:
Don't let the cat get your tongues... O Gentle Ones.
Update 4/16/14 6:00 p.m.: The Standard-Examiner is all over this situation too, with a parallel editorial of its own:
