An essay by Gloria Flora tangled with this issue over 20 years ago. It was a case study in my graduate work, I met her right after she resigned, a very impressive woman of incredible intellect who gave up her retirement because of this crap.
Bringing the hammer down on the Bundys won't fix the much bigger problems our lands face
"...The term “cowboy welfare” didn’t materialize out of thin air. Grazing allotments on public land are privileges, not rights, subsidized by fees 93% cheaper than private pasture in the West. Many small and mid-sized ranching operations can’t pencil out if they are not using subsidized grazing on public lands.
That’s an extremely stressful realization and a symptom of artificially controlled markets, corporate mergers of meat-packers (there are only four in the U.S.) and a globalized economic system that no longer rewards American values of pluck and boot-straps. It’s not the fault of environmentalists, East Coast liberals or a federal agency. There are larger forces at work here. Fighting symptoms does not cure the disease.
---SNIP---
A whole lot more at link...
http://time.com/4172653/oregon-standoff-public-lands/?xid=fbshare
