Friday, 03 July 2015
Did Rand Paul Meet With Cliven Bundy? Bundy Says Yes; Paul Camp: No
Written by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.
Good thing for Rand Paul (shown) that he hasn’t hired theWashington Post to manage his campaign. Taking that paper’s recent advice could alienate a lot of constitutionalists who otherwise might support the senator.
[...]
While in Mesquite, Paul fielded questions from the public, including one about attempts by the federal government to assert ownership of the state’s rural land."I think almost all land use issues and animal issues, endangered species issues, ought to be handled at the state level," Paul told the AP. "I think that the government shouldn't interfere with state decisions, so if a state decides to have medical marijuana or something like that, it should be respected as a state decision."
Paul’s position is constitutionally sound on both counts: state ownership of land and state authority over all but a short list of enumerated powers assigned to the federal government in the Constitution.http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...s-paul-camp-noRand Paul gets this, and that’s probably why the Washington Post wants to warn him off of holding meetings with pro-Bundy crowds. ThePost reports that someone at the Mesquite gathering asked Paul: "There's simply no place in the U.S. Constitution that allows the federal government to hold land. Period. What are you going to do about it?"What did Rand Paul respond? Again, from the Post: "I'd either sell or turn over all land management to the states.”
The paper reports that answer elicited a “wow” and applause from the crowd.
In the case of Bundy’s land (or the lands owned by the dozens of other ranchers who gave in to the pressure and ceded their family homesteads to the federal government), the constitutionally mandated method of ownership has not been followed by the feds.
Why, then, the interest in this patch of desert?
Cliven Bundy’s family has lived on this land for nearly 140 years. The Bundys have settled and improved this property since Cliven's ancestor accompanied Edward Bunker and a company of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members who settled on the Virgin River, a few miles west of the Nevada-Arizona border in 1877.
In nearly every way, Bundy’s life and liberty are connected inextricably to this property — property the family has preemptive rights to and has worked for years before the federal government realized there was gold — black gold — in them thar hills.
The BLM makes millions by leasing land such as that worked by Cliven Bundy to energy companies dedicated to fracking operations. A2007 map produced by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology shows oil exploration being conducted on the land surrounding Bundy’s spread. Some drilling operations in the area are already successfully siphoning oil from the wells in Bundy’s backyard.
Oh, that’s why they ignored the Constitution.
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