Guest column: Hold 'Occupiers' accountable

When it comes to militia members taking over Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Range, many people are confused by what’s perceived as a random act, or they pass it off as the actions of some renegade kooks. It’s dangerous to minimize events through these lenses.

The Oregon Occupiers represent the latest incarnation of county supremacy, a well-established doctrine of right-wing movements. Sometimes county supremacists claim county commissions can exert control over all the land within their boundaries and ignore environmental regulations, thereby jumpstarting local economies through extractive industry. Other times, the focus is on the county sheriff keeping federal agencies from enforcing tax, firearms, environmental and other laws. Frequently, as in Oregon right now, right-wing militants promote both versions simultaneously.

The Oregon Occupiers repeatedly say they won’t leave until the federal government relinquishes the land to the local community to use for ranching, logging, and otherwise stimulating the local economy. Initially, the Occupiers claimed they would leave if asked by the local sheriff.  When the sheriff did so, the insurrectionists questioned whether he was upholding his responsibilities. While claiming they don’t want violence, many of Occupiers tend to wax poetic about armed conflict with federal agents. The militia movement itself has increased by about 40 percent in recent years. The point: The Oregon invasion is grounded in well-established ideology and represents the latest flashpoint for an anti-government movement that should concern us all.

There is growing speculation as to why law enforcement seems to be taking a lackadaisical approach to the Oregon Occupiers. On one hand, officials don’t want to create martyrs to fuel an already-increasing militia movement. Federal agencies no doubt want to avoid disasters like Idaho’s Ruby Ridge and the siege of the Branch Davidians in Waco, which served as catalysts for the creation and mobilization of the militia movement during the 1990s.  Remember, this movement spawned the likes of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.   

However, there is concern that the insurrectionists will get away scot-free as anti-government activists did during the standoff with Nevada’s Cliven Bundy. Despite militia snipers literally taking aim at federal officials, Bundy and his supporters faced no legal repercussions. Given that, it’s not surprising that Bundy’s sons are leading the Oregon Occupiers, and many of those seizing the wildlife range tout their “accomplishments” in Nevada. Militia supporters want another victory in Oregon, while the vast majority of America wants these false “patriots” held accountable for their illegal actions.

What’s happening in Oregon is both influencing and reflecting mainstream public policy debates. This notion of transferring/privatizing federal lands is an outgrowth of county supremacy that has, in recent years, started to gain traction in legislatures across western states.  Last session, Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, sponsored legislation to transfer federal lands in Montana to the state.  Prior to her election, she worked extensively with groups in Sanders County that pushed county supremacy and have concrete links to the Militia of Montana.  Recently, she has taken to social media to defend the Oregon Occupiers’ cause. The ideologies driving the Oregon insurrectionists and right-wing movements consistently find their way into the political mainstream.

We cannot afford to sit around and hope situations like the one in Oregon resolve themselves. That gives these dangerous groups confidence and a sense of legitimacy.  Instead, local communities need to respond. That’s what is happening in Oregon. The local community didn’t ask the militia to take action. Instead, the militia is there on its own behalf hoping for a revolution. Armed militants tend to dominate news coverage. However, if you look and listen closely, the local community is finding its voice and courage to tell the outsiders to leave. Without standing up and saying these groups don’t represent us, the loudest and angriest voices begin defining our communities. If that happens, we all lose.

(Travis McAdam has researched and written about right-wing movements for the last 20 years, including for over a decade as a staffer for the Montana Human Rights Network. He writes from Butte.)