The Astroturf Sagebrush Rebellion

This “standoff” wasn't about cattle.

It's about fracking wells. 
It's about neutering the BLM.  

Deadbeat rancher Cliven Bundy wasn't some kind of hero.

He was a tool.

He was a propaganda tool.

How do you think some guy who doesn't pay his fees to the people of America (it's our land), can recruit hordes of armed militants to chide BLM officers to commit some violent act?

In contrast, think about all those people who lost their homes, sometimes illegally, during the financial crisis – who never got militia protection.

What is this? If you don't pay the banksters; you're a bum. But if you don't pay the government, you're a hero? This doesn't add up. It's as if the militia showed up to protect a tax evader. This “confrontation” screams astroturf theater.

No... There's a bigger story here.

And it appears that ALEC is behind it.

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is not just your typical lobbying organization. ALEC is also a corporate bill mill. This is where the dirty work gets done. This is where the laws that were written to protect Americans get watered down. This is the primary organization behind corporate anarchy in America. And ALEC has a long record of pushing legislation for States to seize control of Federal Lands. The reason why is simple; because it's easier to push around State legislatures.

As far back as 1978, members of ALEC were bragging that they helped spur the initial “Sagebrush Rebellion” in Northern Nevada.

And why?

ALEC doesn't care about ranchers who don't pay their grazing fees. They care about how powerful the BLM is. They want to push around, or in this case; eliminate the BLM.

Follow the money. The Koch brothers, Peabody Energy, Duke Energy, and American Electric Power are examples of big contributors to ALEC. And they want to mine any where they please:

BLM lands – drill baby drill!

Forest Service lands – dig'em up!

Wilderness Areas – frack till the water turns black!

National Parks – you can have 'em back when we're through...

Arizona Representative Raul M. Grijalva (D) has asked the Department of Interior to investigate ALEC's “aggressive effort” to change State laws relating to land use. He claims this amounts to unregistered lobbying.

Imagine that; militias doing unregistered lobbying. It sounds crazy. But think about it. They, and the mainstream media get the public all riled up about how oppressive the “government” is. ALEC steps in with a corporate written bill at the Nevada legislature. And the next thing you know, the public gets played – and most likely; they will never know what happened – until the frackers show up in their back yard.

• Contrast this Astroturf Rebellion with real, grass-roots organizations; like “Occupy.” The FBI, Homeland Security, and numerous local police organizations coordinated a sophisticated violent crackdown that crushed the Occupy movement.
• Contrast this gun toting standoff (in which the government backed down to avoid violence) with the treatment of environmentalists – of which 900 have been killed in the past ten years.
• Oh, and remember; in the past 100 years, American taxpayers have had to pick up the bill for 470 billion dollars in tax subsidies to the oil and gas industries. Moreover, the mining industry is still paying taxes designed to subsidize miners with picks and shovels.

You think they don't have the power to play us in the mainstream media? 
That's how they get away with it. 

 

...And the additional goal; to make Senator Harry Reid look like the face of tyranny. (While in reality, Senator Reid has been one of the few members of Congress to stand up to big oil, coal, and the military/industrial complex.) Gee, could the Koch brothers could have had something to do with that? After he legitimately called the Koch brothers “unAmerican,” wouldn't we expect something.

(This is what they want you to believe.)

I don't agree with Senator Harry Reid's claim that these armed protestors are “terrorists.” They're more like “operatives.” You know, like the CIA operatives who overthrew President Mosaddegh in Iran (likely for the oil companies). Most of these militia members didn't know that. I'm sure they believe the hype. But I wouldn't be surprised if some of their (secret, private intelligence) handlers knew exactly what they were up to: conning gullible Americans into fighting for their own oppression. 

Guns vs. Butter vs. ButterGuns

In the struggle for our future,

there are two kinds of people in America:

Those who see military spending as an expense,

and those who see military spending as an income.

...We all know who's winning – yes, America's military/industrial complex – who receive more “defense” money than the next 10 countries combined. American taxpayers have been reduced to part-time slaves to pay for an oppressive police state and a military “empire” – that essentially goes to war for multi-national corporations. (We are definitely not getting our money's worth of freedom.)

Moreover, in the long run; everyone loses when our infrastructure suffers, our scientists don't have the resources to help us adapt, and our natural resources get depleted rapidly. (Think about it; nobody wants to live in an apocalyptic world where all we have left are guns.)

We can blame this huge waste of resources on our corrupt government and our auction style elections, but there's more to it.

Recently, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi admitted that Congress is afraid of the CIA.

Recently, Senator Dianne FeinStein revealed that the CIA is spying on the Senate.

And the only rational explanation for (political transparency) candidate Obama's transformation to (staunch spy supporter) President Obama – is that he too, is afraid of (or even blackmailed by) spies for the military/industrial complex.

This isn't the first time an American President has had to deal with a rouge military/industrial complex. In fact, this has gone back as far as President John F. Kennedy.

...On more than one occasion President JFK voiced his fear, to numerous people, that he feared a coup.

...And then, something that looked very much like a coup happened.

 

What was that? Didn't John McCain call the JFK assassination an “intervention?” "Intervention" sounds like an Orwellian term for “coup.” No wonder most of us continue to doubt the magic bullet theory.

But no matter who pulled the trigger(s) to kill President Kennedy, the war mongers regained control – and they got their Cold War – and their Viet Nam.

...Warriors got to be heroes, military contractors got to keep their jobs, and a few merchants of death got even richer.

I highly recommend Robert F. Kennedy Jr's recent article JFK vs. The War Machine.

Now, compare that to the Rolling Stone article Obama vs. The Hawks.

Some things never change.

Positions of power attract the power hungry.

The power hungry tend to be aggressive for power.

Tyrants are by definition aggressive, power hungry people.

Consequently, systems with concentrated positions of power typically creep towards tyranny and wars.

How do we prevent this?

With democracy.

And since American democracy hasn't been preventing tyranny creep, we need more direct democracy.

Fortunately, direct democracy might not be that hard to accomplish indirectly. Just vote for the candidates who promise to make decisions solely reflecting popular opinion.