"The common clay of the new West"

The ThinkProgress piece's title is, "'Cliven Bundy is my hero', says Nevada Congressional Candidate".

She described legislation that the Nevada State Legislature was considering that aimed to “transfer” federal land to Nevada. “It’s time that we are not longer serfs on the land in the State of Nevada. It is time that we become sovereign in our own state, our own sovereign state. It is long past time. We are not the servants of the BLM.”

Ah yes, it's spring and the kooks are blooming.

Actually, Janine Hansen, Bundy's newest fangirl, isn't a kook. She is, however, an abysmal ignoramus who has never learned to share. That's the problem with so many on the far, far right: they never learned that personal freedom is never absolute, that there are limits on what you can do and that there must be limits if we are to coexist peacefully. That's why the Bureau of Land Management exists. Hell, that's why government exists.

Bundy and Hansen would probably call their attitude "libertarian" or "laissez-faire". I consider libertarianism to be a synonym for selfishness so I'm inclined to lump them into that category. What's unquestionably true is, their attitude is infantile.

This is what the Bundys of the world are saying to the rest of us: "You won't let me do what I want on land that belongs to everyone! You're tyrannical meanies! Waaaah!"

If only Bundy and his supporters would just hold their breath til they turn blue.

I'm reminded of a sage observation by a respected filmmaker:

You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know ... morons.