Echoing Bundy: Nevada County Riding On Horseback To Washington With Anti-Federal Govt Message
A rural Nevada county is going to Washington on horseback over what it calls federal overreach on public lands. If you ever thought Republicans wanted to take us back a century or two, you were not wrong.
According to Elko County Commissioner Grant Gerber, the protesters will begin their 2,800 mile ride on Sept. 26h and reach the U.S. Capitol about 20 days later.
[su_center_ad]According to the Associated Press, multiple riders covering 5 miles each at a time will carry the commissioners’ resolution touching on various issues including livestock grazing, water rights and wild horses.
The theme of the Cowboy Express ride is “regulation without representation is tyranny,” Gerber said, and commissioners hope its outcome will be an increase in local voices on public land decisions.
The Grass March Cowboy Express website states, “The Petitions being carried are calling for relief from Federal Agencies that do not listen and have no stake in local communities.”
The group continues to say, “Among the petitions are pleas regarding Endangered Species, Water, Wildfire, Wetlands, Wilderness and other mismanagement failures of the Federal Government that destroy families, the economy, the forests, grasslands and animals that they were meant to protect. So we ride to change the future of our Public Lands.”
“It’s extremely serious, but we’re trying to make it fun as we go,” Gerber said.
The group’s protest follows the federal government’s run-in with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy earlier this year, in which he refused to pay his grazing fees. That sparked support from armed militia members, right wing media and Republicans while the rancher called for a range war.
According to the BLM, Bundy owes more than $1 million in fees and penalties for trespassing without a permit over a 20 year period, however, the rancher refuses to acknowledge federal authority on public lands.
The Cowboy Express adds on its site, “Any people anywhere being inclined and having power have the right to rise up and shake off the esisting government, and form a new one that suits them better.” [sic]
That was a misspelled Abraham Lincoln quote.
Alternatively, they could just vote, which is how we get elected officials into government.
H/T: My BFF @ComgenKDT with thanks.[su_csky_ad]
Image: Cowboy Express, AP
redastcyr September 7th, 2014 at 4:06 pm
Where the hell will the police be when they start? Oh yea In Ferguson
mea_mark September 7th, 2014 at 4:32 pm
I wonder how many names they have on the petitions. Probably so few they have to grandstand to get any attention, the’re just a small bunch of people that want a free ride off of government lands like Bundy.
edmeyer_able September 7th, 2014 at 6:28 pm
Probably a lot of people who signed as Mr.X
Cosmic_Surfer September 7th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
Those poor horses having to get harnessed again by stupidity
edmeyer_able September 7th, 2014 at 4:40 pm
The irony is that some of their candidates pushing for privatization of federal lands.
Anomaly 100 September 7th, 2014 at 4:44 pm
While they ride on roads paid for by federal taxpayers.
Tommy6860 September 7th, 2014 at 5:15 pm
The only thing missing from this mini Lost Cause parade is the confederate battle flag.
juicyfruityyy September 7th, 2014 at 8:22 pm
I do believe that they will be carrying one.
Mo Reno September 7th, 2014 at 5:22 pm
Wait until one of these idiot’s horses drinks from a polluted stream…
Linda1961 September 7th, 2014 at 6:12 pm
These “patriots” don’t seem to understand what elections are for – they are for representation, and sometimes the person, or side, you choose loses. They don’t like federal regulations, but as has already been pointed out, they are using federal roads to get to Washington, and federal regulations keep water clean and drinkable. They think that they will get “free” land, and save money on taxes if they weaken or demolish the federal government, but they will lose more than they get. However, these “patriots” are too stupid to realize that.
Candide Thirtythree September 8th, 2014 at 2:31 pm
Well, they are known world wide as the stupid party… and it was their own leaders who call them that, not us.
burqa September 7th, 2014 at 8:04 pm
Hmmmm.
So let me see if I’ve got this right.
A bunch of people who have representation in Congress (and who seem unaware of that fact) are going to ride horses all the way to a city whose residents REALLY don’t have representation in Congress – but the cowpokes don’t seem too too concerned about the residents of Washington, D.C……
……….don’t know if any-a y’all ride, but 20 days in the saddle is gonna raise some big ole butt blisters…..
juicyfruityyy September 7th, 2014 at 8:25 pm
I wonder where they think that they are going to saddle their horses? I wouldn’t recommend having the horses drink from the rivers or eat the grass. Do they plan on tying their horses to a paid meter? They are a good example why education is important.
Winslow Bunny September 7th, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Isn’t this cute? Everybody riding their horse to Washington to protest how the big, bad government is controlling government-owned land while “welfare queen” (Reagan’s words) Cliven Bundy grazes his cattle on said land without paying for 20 years – and the government is being mean! This seems to be a problem that we’ve had out west for decades, ranchers who want to get the government out of the way so that they can do what they will with the land, whether they own it or not . . . kind of like Republican businessmen. Remember to pick up after your horses, boys.
Budda September 7th, 2014 at 11:37 pm
In the 21st century they use an 18th century manner to protest their version of contemporary repression. How cute.
bpollen September 7th, 2014 at 11:50 pm
First there was pushing sand against the tide. Then there was carrying coals to Newcastle. Now we have riding horsies to D.C. to deliver a petition written in crayon. I personally would vote for them to piss into the wind.
granpa.usthai September 8th, 2014 at 2:22 am
just so long as your horsies don’t block the traffic east of the Mississippi. Things a a bit more fast paced than they wuz back in the 1800’s. – and more sanitary. Clean up after your horsies, or they could become local fodder for the glue factories. – NO GUNS ALLOWED IN DC.
Candide Thirtythree September 8th, 2014 at 2:28 pm
They are saying that because they live in that state they have a right to completely destroy every inch of it for their own personal gain. They have already shown that they will graze an area into dust and not pay for the damage they do. They are now using ATVs to destroy national parks and the government is not doing anything at all about it. It would take less than a minute for law enforcement to kill every single one of them if any of them make the mistake of pulling out a gun in DC.
They are domestic terrorists and we should all demand that they be treated as such, this is just insane.
William September 8th, 2014 at 2:57 pm
Uh oh. This might just be as much as a catastrophic event as that million truck beltway shutdown that was going to force Obama to resign.