Cliven Bundy Standoff Reveals PCG's Extremism

Back in April 2014 one Cliven Bundy gathered up a bunch of fervent extremist anti-government militia members to get back his cattle from Bureau of Land Management employees after they had been seized in lieu of his refusal to pay taxes for using public land for grazing in a long running dispute. They intimidated the BLM personnel by apparently pointing loaded guns at them and placed snipers in the area to intimidate the federal agents. This armed stand off could easily have turned deadly. Thankfully that did not happen. The BLM chose to retreat in order to prevent violence. The cattle was seized from the BLM personnel. Among his sympathizers it seemed as though they had gained victory in this matter. One account of this incident may seen in War in the West: The Bundy Ranch Standoff and the American Radical Right by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which includes comments from an interview with the man who organized the militia with Cliven Bundy.

But soon after that Cliven Bundy said racist things about African Americans and many of those who previously chose to sympathize with him promptly disassociated themselves from him refusing to accept his racism.

But not PCG.

Soon after the publication of his racist comment PCG's Robert Morley wrote an article in which he chose to sympathize with Cliven Bundy. Morley made it clear he did not agree with everything Bundy said but he decided to portray Bundy as the victim of "the big media" even when so many of Bundy's sympathizers had already disassociated themselves from him because of those racist comments.

But is Bundy really the evil, cold-hearted racist he is made out to be? If you look at what he actually said, in a strange way, he seems to be trying to take the side of African Americans—blaming government policy as a root cause for many of the social and economic problems experienced by black communities. ...

Did Bundy say some offensive things? No doubt. But is he a racist? I don’t know. I never met the man. The New York Times writer vilifying him doesn’t know either. Nor do all the media outlets and talk show hosts that jumped all over his comments. I do know that the full transcript of his speech doesn’t indicate that he is.

But what the big media is doing is drawing attention away from the important issues like states’ rights, increasingly militarized government agencies and the government’s role in family breakdown and the welfare state—all important topics raised by Bundy, at a time he was getting a lot of national coverage. Race baiting changed the national dialogue, heightened polarization and stirred up a lot of anger. (Robert Morley, How the Media Inflamed the Bundy Ranch Standoff, May 5, 2014.)

This shows just how far to the right PCG's leadership actually is. So many rightists chose to disassociate themselves from Cliven Bundy by this time and here we see PCG choosing to stand up for Cliven Bundy. Bundy was portrayed as the victim of "the big media" when what really hurt him was that so many rightists wanted no more to do him.

Although considering that PCG teaches that interracial marriage is sinful it is little surprise that PCG's leaders would choose to make light of Cliven Bundy's comment.