Why America Needs Ammon Bundy

Joe Fowler, staff writer

Five hundred people gathered at the Harney County courthouse in Oregon on Monday, Feb. 1, according to the Oregonian, Portland’s major newspaper. On the 31st day of a standoff between a group of armed occupiers and officials in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the paper reported that two groups of protesters converged on the courthouse: some in opposition, some in support of the four remaining holdouts involved in the standoff.

The key event leading to the standoff involved a federal judge sending two men back to prison who had already served time for setting fires on federal land, according to the Associated Press (AP). Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond served time after admitting to setting the fires. The AP reported that a federal judge determined that their sentences had been too short and ordered them back to prison in October.

The leader of the occupiers, Ammon Bundy, is the son of Cliven Bundy. In 2014, the elder Bundy was successful in an armed standoff against federal rangers over a dispute with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Nevada,  according to the Oregonian.

When the federal judge ordered the Hammonds back to prison, 300 protesters rallied in support of the father and son, the Oregonian reported. The paper continued by saying that 30 of the protesters took up arms and took over the headquarters at Malheur.

Ammon Bundy quickly became the face and voice of the occupiers, the paper said, though despite his family’s history in disputes involving land ownership, even Cliven Bundy has questioned his son’s motives.

In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), the senior Bundy said that the Hammonds did reach out to the Bundys on a private level. Cliven Bundy supported them by saying, “I believe the local governments have failed these people.” However, he went on to question the protest, “I think of it this way: what business does the Bundy family have in Harney County, Oregon?” he said.

Since the Oregon standoff began in January, those in the refuge claimed to be defending the constitutional rights of the Hammonds by questioning government land rights and mandatory minimum sentences, their main focus appearing to be the former. Connie Jorgensen, an Assistant Professor of Political Science, commented on the claims against government land rights by mentioning article 4.3 of the Constitution, which grants the federal government the power to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”

To the end of challenging government land rights, Ammon Bundy does not appear have that solid a case. The Hammonds desire no affiliation with the holdout group either, according to the AP. However, rebellion has an important place in the history of America.

Jeff Diehm, a scholar with the Documents Compass project, which edits and translates the works of the founding fathers into digital form, provided several links to the works of Americans who lived through the greatest rebellion of all, the American Revolution. 

“I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the Atmosphere (sic).” Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in a letter from 1787. In the same letter, Jefferson wrote more on rebellions, including those similar to the Oregon standoff where the validity of rebel claims fell under fire: “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.”

However,Diehm also said, “Jefferson talked a lot about the good of rebellion to keep the government in check, but somehow, I don’t see him taking it so graciously if it had happened on his watch!”

Perhaps not, but several presidents have experienced rebellion on their watch. These instances have hit the history books in a different light because they succeeded. President Eisenhower ranks among these presidents in part because of one woman’s act of defiance.

“No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Rosa Parks in reference to her refusal to sit in the back of the bus thus leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Boycott became a key event in the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights movement ranks among the most successful rebellions in American history, though it is rarely referred to as rebellion. Martin Luther King Jr.’s emphasis on the value of peace left an impact that still resonates today. King was also known for more controversial messages as well, such as, “And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard,” bringing into question not the riot but rather what “America has failed to hear,” in order to explore events leading up to riots.

Even with history in support of some rebellions, is Ammon Bundy right? In his rebellion against government land rights, the answer seems to be no. The more intriguing angle involves the mandatory minimum sentencing laws in the Hammonds’ case.

Found mainly in court cases involving drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing is a highly contested aspect of the criminal justice system. USLegal.com states that the legal definition of mandatory minimum sentencing is a “fixed sentence that a judge is forced to deliver to an individual convicted of a crime, neglecting the culpability and other mitigating factors involved in the crime.”

The Hammonds were subject to a mandatory minimum sentence. The Washington Post reported that a federal judge chose to ignore mandatory minimum sentencing in the Hammonds’ initial case, stating his belief that the sentences were “grossly disproportionate to the severity of the offenses here.” The sentences the judge imposed fell far short of the five-year mandatory minimum. After their release, a different federal judge resentenced the Hammonds to four more years each.

Several sources, including Time Magazine, The Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post have reported an increasing uneasiness from the American public in regards to mandatory minimum sentencing. American citizens care about the fairness of these particular laws. Considering the Hammonds returned to prison because of such sentencing laws, the more relevant issue in Ammon Bundy’s protest involves criminal justice reform rather than government land rights.

Still, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in his letter, he would rather see a rebellion for the wrong reason than none at all. Right or wrong, Ammon Bundy serves as a reminder that the next Rosa Parks can sit anywhere she wants on the bus; that the next Susan B. Anthony can challenge a male-dominated society for the rights of women.

Abraham Lincoln, who served as president during the greatest upheaval in American history, said, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.”

America needs people like Ammon Bundy. Bundy demonstrates how far a misinformed and misled rebellion can go. Even a failed rebellion serves to remind Americans of their right to rise against injustice in the nation.