When Cliven Bundy took to a stage this April near where armed militiamen a year before backed down agents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), it seemed that his “Battle of Bunkerville” had truly been won. A year had passed and Bundy was still free, his cattle were still grazing on government lands, and his radical defenders remained unscathed.
So much for a repeat of the Bundy Ranch standoff.
What began as a paper dispute over the language in a claim for an old gold mine in the hills of southwestern Oregon has lurched into what the antigovernment “Patriots” arriving on scene seemingly hope will be an armed confrontation with federal authorities.
The SPLC has documented a powerful resurgence of the extremist movement that motivated McVeigh. In fact, the movement has spawned numerous acts of terror and violence in recent years.
