{"id":8886,"date":"2016-04-23T23:12:59","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T06:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/?p=8886"},"modified":"2018-03-02T20:31:34","modified_gmt":"2018-03-03T04:31:34","slug":"time-to-end-the-occupation-of-oregon-by-the-federal-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/time-to-end-the-occupation-of-oregon-by-the-federal-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to End the Occupation of Oregon by the Federal Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/h1>\n

\"Burns<\/h1>\n
\u00a0<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
The controversy over the Federal government\u2019s\u00a0control\u00a0of\u00a0more than half the land in the State of Oregon didn\u2019t just\u00a0begin with the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and it isn’t going to end with the\u00a0murder of Lavoy Finicum\u00a0and the arrest of Ammon and Ryan Bundy on federal charges stemming from\u00a0their month long occupation of the Federal facility.\u00a0Their presence at the Refuge was intended to call attention to the Federal Government’s unjust and unconstitutional occupation of over 700 million acres of land in twelve Western States, but all the government and the media can ever focus on is their\u00a0hostile takeover\u00a0of the Wildlife\u00a0Refuge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The twenty or so\u00a0demonstrators who\u00a0took over\u00a0the 160,000 acre Refuge for\u00a0almost a month were\u00a0described\u00a0in the media as\u00a0“armed militants”.\u00a0 Reporters\u00a0armed with cameras and pens,\u00a0and\u00a0no knowledge of the Constitution turned their little act of civil disobedience\u00a0into\u00a0a\u00a0major refusal to\u00a0follow police orders\u00a0and they totally ignored the government’s ongoing failure to follow the Constitution in their reporting. The\u00a0underlying dispute over\u00a0the Federal government’s unlawful management of\u00a0700 million acres of\u00a0State land won’t even be discussed, not by the media and not in\u00a0 the courtroom. It isn’t going to be settled in a court of law. \u00a0The defendants\u00a0are being tried on criminal charges\u00a0arising from their failure to\u00a0disperse and leave the Refuge when\u00a0they were ordered\u00a0to do so by\u00a0the police,\u00a0sheriff, and the FBI. Congress still controls\u00a0America’s 700 million acres of\u00a0public\u00a0land\u00a0and Congress,\u00a0not the courts\u00a0has the power to dispose of this land as required in the Constitution.\u00a0Congress has the power to repeal the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976. \u00a0It is highly unlikely that the courts will ever get involved.<\/p>\n
What are the\u00a0issues that led Ammon and Ryan Bundy,\u00a0and Lavoy Finicum to come\u00a0to Oregon? Why did they\u00a0chose\u00a0the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County as\u00a0the right place to draw attention to their cause? Their\u00a0courageous actions\u00a0sparked a\u00a0frenzy of media\u00a0reporting from the\u00a0little town of Burns (population 2,700) for which the people of Burns were totally unprepared. The men and one woman who occupied the Refuge were not only protesting the unjust occupation of State land by the Federal government, but also the unjust incarceration of two Oregon ranchers\u00a0on federal charges stemming from\u00a0what really are traditional land management and weed control practices… the same practices that\u00a0have been used for centuries. Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted of arson for burning weeds on their land and sentenced to spend six months and one year respectively in jail. After they served their time\u00a0they were released, but the Obama Justice Department under Loretta Lynch sent\u00a0both men\u00a0back to jail\u00a0to serve the\u00a0remainder\u00a0of a five year prison sentence.\u00a0\u00a0Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and Lavoy Finicum came\u00a0here to Harney County, Oregon \u00a0to try to help\u00a0the Hammonds and\u00a0to call attention to the plight of\u00a0all Western ranchers at the hands of the Federal government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since all wealth comes from the land,\u00a0and over half of the land in Western States\u00a0is owned and controlled by Congress many counties in Western States are struggling to meet their budget needs.\u00a0The Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) that counties receive from the Federal government do nothing to\u00a0solve the underlying problem of how to\u00a0ensure that local government is self-supporting. Some counties are not even able to\u00a0provide\u00a0basic government services without\u00a0a handout from\u00a0Congress because so much of\u00a0the land in these counties is not\u00a0on the tax rolls. It is owned by the Federal Government which does not local property taxes.<\/p>\n
Without private property there is not a tax base to\u00a0pay for\u00a0much needed government services like police and fire departments, and public schools. Without strong support for private property\u00a0freedom is just a theory, not a reality.\u00a0The right to own property and the right to pursue happiness\u00a0are secured in the Bill of Rights. The right to petition the government for a redress of\u00a0grievances whenever any of our constitutional rights are violatedby the government is also guaranteed in the Constitution.\u00a0Our constitutional\u00a0rights are guaranteed in Oregon just like they are in any other State.<\/p>\n
Ammon and Ryan Bundy\u00a0were exercising some of their Constitutional rights when they came to Oregon. While\u00a0these rights are too numerous to mention\u00a0and they are not all\u00a0\u00a0listed in the Constitution,\u00a0the powers of the Federal Government are all listed in the Constitution. Besides these there are no others.\u00a0 They are limited and few, and they are\u00a0all enumerated\u00a0in the Constitution, and no where does it say that the Federal Government has the\u00a0authority to\u00a0occupy vast amounts of State land and use it for whatever purpose it wishes.<\/p>\n
The day\u00a0I\u00a0saw two Oregon State Police officers shoot a man in the back for challenging the Federal government’s\u00a0authority to\u00a0control more than half\u00a0 the State of Oregon I realized that something much bigger than Lavoy Finicum had died in America. He was shot in the back while his hands were up in the air, and then they left his lifeless body on the ground right where they shot him until the next morning when he was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.\u00a0\u00a0They just left Lavoy Finicum to bleed to death in the snow. That’s when I\u00a0realized that\u00a0respect for\u00a0the Constitution was not the only thing that has died in my country. Respect for life and liberty has ceased to exist in America as well.<\/p>\n
Oregon became a State in 1859. Before\u00a0that it was\u00a0a\u00a0part of a larger territory which included several soon to be States. The ownership and administration of this land was contested by three different countries as well as\u00a0a\u00a0number of different Indian tribes. The controversy over the ownership of\u00a0land in Oregon\u00a0like so much of the land in other Western States is much bigger than what happened at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. What used to be called the Oregon Territory included land in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming, and most of the province of British Columbia. In 1846 the United States purchased the Oregon Territory from England. After a border dispute with Canada was settled by negotiation , Oregon became the 33rd State to join the Union,\u00a0but for the last 157 years Oregon has remained an occupied territory\u2026 It is occupied by the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
Fifty three percent of Oregon is administered by just two departments of the\u00a0Federal Government\u2026 the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. It is time for this occupation of Oregon to end.<\/p>\n
When Americans think of “occupied territory” we don\u2019t usually think of the peaceful Pacific Northwest.\u00a0We think of more turbulent places in the world like the Middle East where Jews and Arabs have been fighting for control of that disputed land ever since Israel became a country and even long before that. Whether they ever find a way to\u00a0live together\u00a0in peace is a question that\u00a0remains to be answered, but for Americans living in occupied\u00a0territory right here in our own country, in occupied Oregon for example the idea of occupation of land is not theoretical.. It is real.<\/p>\n
Twelve Western States are occupied by the Federal Government. They have been occupied\u00a0ever since they were admitted to the Union. Approximately half of the land west of the Rocky Mountains is occupied territory. This amounts to 700 million acres of land which is\u00a0administered and \u00a0controlled by Congress primarily through two federal agencies… the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. That amount of land controlled by Congress\u00a0is bigger than the size of most countries. The fact that Congress controls half the land in twelve Western States is in direct violation of its enumerated powers. This is what\u00a0prompted the Sagebrush Rebellion in 1979. It is also what prompted to Bundys to come to Oregon in 2016.<\/p>\n
The Property Rights Clause only gives Congress the power to manage public lands until they are permanently disposed of, but these public lands must be disposed of. The only land that Congress has the authority to retain\u00a0is a one hundred square mile area\u00a0called the District of Columbia, plus enough additional land to on which to build “forts and ports and other needful buildings”.\u00a0 Congress is required to find a permanent resolution for all the public lands\u00a0it manages which conforms to the Constitution. It must dispose of these lands which it\u00a0holds. The proper resolution is to return these lands to the States from which they were taken when these States were admitted to the Union.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0disposal process can be managed by Congress. The land can be returned to the States with the stipulation that every State can determine how\u00a0its own lands are to be disposed of.\u00a0Public hearings can be held. Title to the land can be transferred or sold\u00a0and\u00a0the proceeds can be used to pay down the National Debt which is unsustainable at\u00a0over 20\u00a0trillion dollars. No studies have\u00a0to be conducted in order to prove this can be successfully done because it is already being don in the 38 other States\u00a0east of the Rocky Mountains.<\/p>\n
It had been the custom of\u00a0 Congress in time past to dispose of all lands acquired by the Federal government, but\u00a0in 1976\u00a0Congress passed the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) and\u00a0it began its\u00a0current policy of retaining control of all remaining public land. The difference between the Federal government’s land management practices before and after 1976 can be seen in this map of America’s public lands.<\/p>\n
Only three percent of the land east of the Mississippi River is controlled by the Federal Government while fifty percent of all the land west of the Rocky Mountains remains under the firm grip of the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. The disparity between Western States and Eastern States is enormous and still growing. It violates the Equal Footing Principle by which all new States were supposed to be admitted to\u00a0the Union on the same basis as all of the other States..<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 State\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Admitted\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 % owned by Federal government<\/span><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 California\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 1850\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a045%<\/span><\/p>\n
2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oregon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1859\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a053%<\/span><\/p>\n
3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nevada\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a01864\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0\u00a085%<\/span><\/p>\n
4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Colorado\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 1876\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 37%<\/span><\/p>\n
5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Montana\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1889\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a030%<\/span><\/p>\n
6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Washington\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a01889\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a035%<\/span><\/p>\n
7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wyoming\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01890\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a042%<\/span><\/p>\n
8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Idaho\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1890\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 50%<\/span><\/p>\n
9)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Utah\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1896\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a057%<\/span><\/p>\n
10)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Arizona\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01912\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 48%<\/span><\/p>\n
11)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Mexico\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1912\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 41%<\/span><\/p>\n
12)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alaska\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01959\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 69%<\/span><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
The occupation of California and Oregon began just\u00a0prior to\u00a0the Civil War. The occupation of Nevada began during the Civil War, and the occupation of\u00a0the other ten Western State began shortly after the Reconstruction period following the end of the Civil War during which time the Federal Government\u00a0occupied Southern States. The occupation of America didn\u2019t come to\u00a0end when Federal troops pulled out of the South.\u00a0 The focus of Washington\u2019s\u00a0attention\u00a0merely shifted from the South to the West. It\u2019s time for the occupation of Western States to come to an end too.<\/p>\n
Please sign this Petition<\/a> requesting Congress to\u00a0begin disposing of\u00a0 land it controls in\u00a0America’s Western States which were admitted to the Union after 1850.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Corroborating Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n
http:\/\/bigthink.com\/strange-maps\/291-federal-lands-in-the-us<\/a><\/p>\n