Nevada ranching family claims victory as government releases cattle

[Xithras]

76. No, I merely pointed out that one of your beliefs is shared by the 'baggers.

Did you never visit Freeperland during the OWS protests? The idea that the government should shoot protesters is certainly not a "liberal" belief, and it's one that is generally held by the right wing. Lots of 'baggers were advocating that the OWS protesters be shot. I'm not saying that you're a teabagger, but I AM saying that you should reexamine your perspective on this issue, because it's inconsistent with beliefs generally expected of those on the "left".

Twenty four years ago I, and a lot of other people, chained myself across a roadway in order to save some redwood trees from loggers. The loggers told us to move. They had every legal right to the trees. The police ordered us to move. There were court orders and government rulings declaring that the loggers could log that area. But we chained ourselves across those roadways anyway. We impeded the government, interrupted private commerce, and defied the courts. And in the end...we won.

Civil disobedience has been a cornerstone of American protesting since before America existed as a nation. Henry David Thoreau wrote about it. Abolitionists engaged in it regularly. Desegregationists embraced it wherever they could. OWS was built on it. Outside of America, Gandhi freed an entire nation using nonviolent civil disobedience.

These idiots in Nevada were engaging in an act of protest and civil disobedience. The fact that they had guns, which were legally carried in accordance with the laws of this country and that state, do not change anything. The right to nonviolently protest, even when that protest impedes business or the government, is not held solely by those we agree with politically.

If these guys were digging foxholes and taking potshots at police officers, I'd agree with you that force is justified. But they weren't, and didn't. They protested. They impeded. They engaged in acts of protest and civil disobedience. NONE of those things warrant a violent response. Would I advocate that SWAT be used against people engaged in acts of civil disobedience? Never.