Cliven Bundy speaks at Independent American Party summit

Cliven Bundy during a press conference, Bunkerville, Nev., April 14, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher at the center of a controversial standoff between federal agents and states’ rights supporters earlier this year, will be speaking at the Independent American Party’s summit in St. George Saturday.

The 67-year-old Bunkerville, Nevada, resident has become a hero to some and a villain to others for the events surrounding the April 12 showdown between the Bureau of Land Management and Bundy supporters that included armed militia. Despite heightening tensions between both sides, ultimately no shots were fired and no one was injured.


Details of the standoff between Bundy Ranch supporters and the BLM can be found here.

Kelly Gneiting, National Chairman of the American Independent Party, said he didn’t anticipate Bundy’s presence causing any trouble at the summit.

“We’re a political party. We’re out to get along with people,” he said.

In the early days of the BLM-Bundy confrontation, Gneiting said his party was among the first groups to take a stance in support of Bundy’s position. “When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty,” he said, paraphrasing a quote originally attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

However, Gneiting added that the Independent American Party, while passionate about its message of freedom and restoring the Constitution, does not support anti-government extremism. “That’s not who we are,” he said.

Instead, the party supports dealing with what it sees as political injustice and constitutional erosion by working within the system instead of outside of it, Gneiting said.

Richard Mack, of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, speaks on the importance of sheriffs in defending the Constitution, Bunkerville, Nev., April 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Richard Mack, of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, speaks on the importance of sheriffs in defending the Constitution, Bunkerville, Nev., April 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Bundy will be speaking at the end of the day-long summit. He will be discussing  the “Improper Role of Government,” according to the summit’s agenda.

Former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff Richard Mack, of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, will also be speaking at the summit held at the Lexington Hotel, 850 Bluff Street in St. George.

Before Mack and Bundy speak, however, Independent American Party officers and candidates running for federal and state-level offices will address the summit attendees beginning at 10 a.m.

In the afternoon leading up to Mack and Bundy, short presentations concerning issues like the Federal Reserve and Common Core will be given.

Candidates include Nihla Judd, running for Utah House District 75 (currently held by Rep. Don Ipson, R-St. George); Leslie Curtis, running for Utah Attorney General; Wayne L. Hill, running for Utah’s Second Congressional District, among others.

The summit is free to the public. The agenda can be found here.

About the Independent American Party

“We are about restoring the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers,” Gneiting said.

The National Independent American Party was founded in Utah in 1998, with its beginnings reaching back to 1993. According to the party’s website, the party’s creators were seeking a “truly” conservative party and were inspired by a speech given by former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson titled “The Proper Role of Government.” The speech outlines 15 points what Benson’s describes of government’s “proper role,” which also serve as the foundation of the party’s ideals.

“The Independent American Party’s objective is to express and advocate independence,” the party states on its website. “This is in contrast to dependence and political systems which deprive the American citizen of their God-given inalienable rights.”

The party’s mission, as posted on its Facebook page:

To promote: respect for life, liberty and property; strong traditional families; patriotism; and individual, state and national sovereignty – with a strong reliance on the Declaration of Independence and allegiance to the Constitution for the United States of America – by petition to God and by political and educational means.

The party places a great deal of emphasis on having God involved in its activities, Gneiting said.

“If you’re a party and don’t involve God, you’re kicking against the pricks and laboring in vain,” he said, adding neither the Republican or Democrat parties involve God much, and thus aren’t accomplishing much in return.

Party members are spread across the county and also work with like-minded political groups.

Resources

Event recap

  • When: 10 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 2
  • Where: The Lexington Hotel, 850 Bluff St., St. George
  • Admission: Free to the public
  • Summit agenda: here

Related posts

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

 

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42 Comments

  • Bundyville Mongloid July 30, 2014 at 11:51 pm

    Bundy is coming to town! Now I can learn how to cheat on my taxes, invite inbred, gun toting, morons to my house and get away with it. I love it! Go Bundy!

    • gutty August 1, 2014 at 8:09 pm

      amen. thought we were done with this nutbag bundy

  • citizenactivist July 31, 2014 at 12:09 am

    Wish I could make the trip, I live in Northern California. Anyone going to live
    stream the meeting, I’d be interested in seeing at least some of it?

  • tinker toys July 31, 2014 at 3:04 am

    I hope the talk is well scripted and rehearsed. If not we are in for another racist tirade.

  • Jen Lindley July 31, 2014 at 3:51 am

    “When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty”

    ……

    …….

    Cliven Bundy refused to pay his land fees imposed upon him because he chose to graze HUNDREDS OF CATTLE on public land. This is a fee that every other rancher who grazes their cattle on public land pays. This was also a fee APPROVED BY A MAJORITY OF AMERICAN VOTERS over 100 years ago. Over 20 years ago Cliven Bundy disagreed with the law of the land but he didn’t want to do a thing to change it (eg. Write a bill, run for office, etc) so he decided it would be easier to just not pay and break the law. Cliven Bundy has been stealing from the American public for over twenty years. I have followed this since it first broke and I am simply astounded at how much support this lowlife thief and coward of a man has managed to garnish in a state where the majority of people claim to be “Christian”. Last I checked stealing was a sin. Then again this is Utah, the “do as I say, not as I do” state.

    In short by not paying his voter approved land fees, Cliven Bundy has been stealing from the American people. He belongs in jail, not on stage next to decent men and women who had the courage to stand up and try to correct something they think needs correcting in ways that don’t involve high powered rifles held by cowards who hide behind women and children as they point those rifles at men who don’t.

    • EL JEFE July 31, 2014 at 9:18 am

      JEN LINDLY…… Bundy is a Nevada resident, NOT Utah. And how about the cowards of the BLM who also pointed high powered rifles at the same women and children?? Not only did they point rifles at women and children, they killed a lot of Bundy’s cattle and destroyed a lot of his private property as well. And why does the BLM have a law enforcement division to begin with?? Isn’t that what the FBI, or at the very least, the county Sheriffs office is for?? So by your logic, it is ok for BLM people to do what you claim private citizens did?? Where is the integrity in that?? Just because something is a law…does not make it right. There are many “wrong” laws.

      • TRVTH July 31, 2014 at 9:39 am

        Wonderful, so let the *. *. *. stay in Nevada. Let him be Nevada’s problem, we don’t need any more problems here right now.
        As far as your BLM (Bureau of Lame Minds) statement, I have to agree with what you are saying. Sort of, anyway.

      • Mark Vinclio July 31, 2014 at 9:48 am

        does it make you feel better and help you justify Bundy and his actions by saying the blm pointed guns at women and children.. (lie) bundy is a joke and if its the I’m american and I have a right then those cattle belong to me to and I will slaughter a couple and bbq with my neigbors because I am entitled to them just like bundy is ….correct

        • EL JEFE July 31, 2014 at 2:35 pm

          No I do not find what Bundy did justifiable either. But it is the “do as I say, not as I do” mindset that the BLM expressed, or any other government agency that attempts to enforce law. Why is it ok for the government to point guns at women and children, and not ok to point guns at quasi-law enforcement government officials. It is still one human being pointing a gun at another human being….isn’t it?? And as for the destruction of private property, I would call it even if the BLM destroyed Bundy’s property for Bundy grazing for free. I agree with TRVTH comment above…..”let the *.*.*. stay in Nevada”.

    • Libitarian July 31, 2014 at 8:19 pm

      100 years ago, really, now we have Obama telling us how to spend tax dollars , how is that working for you.

    • MChacon August 1, 2014 at 11:04 am

      I am a small business owner, every month I have to pay taxes; sales taxes, employee taxes, license fees….he list goes on. I pay them because it’s the law and my duty as a law abiding citizen. This man is a thief!

  • SAGEMOON July 31, 2014 at 8:45 am

    I’m glad I’m going camping this weekend so I can avoid all the nuts that will be running amuck.

    • Missy July 31, 2014 at 11:52 am

      I’m with you, Sagemoon. Time to get the heck out of town!!

  • tc rider July 31, 2014 at 9:42 am

    who encouraged this nut job from nevada to speak in Saint George?
    Its people like this that can give our city a real bad image.

    • An actual Independent August 3, 2014 at 7:38 pm

      But this is where he really belongs, because this is where his like minded brethren are.

  • Ron July 31, 2014 at 10:44 am

    The thing about this Independent Party that excites me the most is that God is a member (or at least “involved”), according to Gneiting. So maybe on Saturday, we’ll get a glimpse of Him on the podium with Bundy? Hmm, or maybe those of us who aren’t attending can get away with a lot of #### since God will obviously be pretty busy working with these folks to save our country.

  • [email protected] July 31, 2014 at 11:29 am

    I am glad Cliven Bundy will be leaving his ranch. Hopefully, this will give the authorities a chance to arrest him.

  • Festus July 31, 2014 at 11:57 am

    Still with this bumbling jackass… Really people?? Did you guys actually listen to his speeches at the “standoff”. I hope your all ready to have your minds expanded! What a joke.

    • Libitarian July 31, 2014 at 8:10 pm

      Fester, your the only joke here.

  • Double Standards R Us July 31, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    So,the government stealing from tax payers is not a sin?

  • delong July 31, 2014 at 2:29 pm

    Yeah, Bundy has been “working inside the system” for years… Rrrighhtt……. LOL

  • SSfreeze July 31, 2014 at 3:36 pm

    I don’t give a rats … what this fool has to say. He is a tax fraud and should be in jail.

  • Mormon Hero July 31, 2014 at 4:10 pm

    The tax-evading, government hating Bundy is a hero of southern Utah mormons. They too, worshipped a tax-evading, government hating, scammer and adulterous man they called their prophet. Makes sense they should worship this POS.

  • dixiesuzan July 31, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    As I read the comments on this page it becomes clear the anti-Bundy and anti-liberty brain washing is getting to be complete.
    The BLM acts on the Cliven Bundy ranch afforded a resplendent display of arbitrary power without lawful or legal right. 200 armed BLM agents with villainy in their souls and weapons in their hands are not to be counted upon as the most virtuous men in the land. The BLM in the West has become the outrageous and unlimited instrument of tyranny upon the citizenry. They are now no more than a band of brigands, men accountable to no person or law for their actions.
    There are rights of men which are inalienable. They cannot be alienated by even the owner of them and surrendered or conveyed to idiots and madmen. Acts and deeds of idiots, madmen and lunatics who claim inalienable rights of another have been surrendered unto themselves are claims illegal, null and void. They are not then obligatory claims or binding claims under any and all of the laws of God and mankind. These claims reside in nonsense.
    To suppose inalienable rights were surrendered by “general consent”, or by fraud, or force cannot confer any legitimacy upon such surrendered claims to rights. For neither fraudulent, nor forced nor coerced consent is any consent at all. It is a mockery of consent. Such “consent “and surrender claim is by every man, a right of him to trample underfoot this folly.
    Inalienable rights of life, liberty and property are derived from nature and God, the creator of nature itself, and are inherent, and indefeasible rights by any laws, compacts, pacts, contracts or stipulations which mankind can devise. National vengeance awaits he who tries to violate inalienable rights. Security of these rights of life, liberty and property is the history of struggle against arbitrary power in every age. Phantom cheats as laws springing forth from a mind filled with fictions, and claiming arbitrary authority to violate inalienable rights are simply no laws at all.
    A BLM acting under a court warrant to impound cattle, and refusing the use of the county sheriff contrary to law and refusing to gain in writing any authority from him to operate in Clark County Nevada and which then invades with armed force a mans estate to seize at will and in any arbitrary way his assets in cattle is no legal force or lawful one either. It is a tyranny without legal right. For the BLM to then claim a grant and delegated power emanating from a Federal judge under a court order to impound cattle the sudden discretionary right to suspend the 1st amendment of the US Constitution as part of their exercise of this court order is a display of usurpations and arbitrary gangster hood rarely exhibited publicly by these brigands.
    If there are fools, accomplices and fellow criminals who support discretionary suspension of the 1st Amendment by the BLM is lawful and legal, and who believe such discretion lies within the bounds of American Constitutional law, then speak up here and now and present your evidences.

    • Bundyville Mongloid July 31, 2014 at 10:26 pm

      Woooo Hoooo!

  • dixiesuzan July 31, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    As I reread the above comments I cannot be silent about the falsehoods here perpetrated.
    The so-called public lands in the West, residing within Western States admitted to the Union are held in a split estate ownership. The Federal government reserved unto itself the mineral rights, and thus these States were not admitted on equal footing and in like manner to the ones East of the Mississippi.
    The ownership in split estate is held in 3 ways. (1) Federal ownership of the mineral rights; (2) the surface rights to animals, trees and timber etc are held as State property; (3) non-irrigable lands grazing rights and water rights can be held by private citizens, i.e. ranchers. No one holds full title to these lands.
    Long after the Bundy family obtained cattle grazing rights, the BLM was created and claimed to initiate a voluntary policy of water improvement. Only it wasn’t voluntary. The volunteers were assed grazing fees under it. In fact, all were assessed grazing fees. Bundy had not volunteered. He was assessed anyways. He refused to pay. Now it is claimed by the BLM that for 20 years he has not paid grazing fees to the BLM and that he is now in arrears to the BLM by well over 1 million dollars. Except that when any government agency detects someone appropriating Federal funds they have a duty and obligation to seek a criminal action, an indictment and an arrest and trial for appropriating monies unto themselves owned by the Federal government. This is called fundamental criminal law. But the BLM has never for 20 years sought the courts of criminal law for judgment, so now the claimed appropriated Federal funds by Bundy are well over 1 million dollars. For any Federal official or government agency to allow appropriation of Federal funds to the tune of over 1 million dollars with the full, and complete knowledge of the individuals and the BLM agency amounts to complicity and culpability to the crime. The BLM and its management can equally be tried for the crime as accomplices. They did nothing and continued to ignore the crimes and criminal law obligations of themselves and the BLM management.
    While one hears screaming of Bundy theft to we also hear willing assistance and with full intent by the BLM? NO. Do we see the BLM speak loudly of crime but seek recourse to the criminal courts of law? NO.
    All we hear are loud voices engaged in public character defamation of Cliven Bundy without any evidence of crime or arrests being made in support of the claims and defamations.
    A reminder of what has not been done for those who are BLM echoes on these comment pages.

    • Bundyville Mongloid July 31, 2014 at 10:27 pm

      Yeeeeee Haaaaaaaa!

    • Sheeple August 1, 2014 at 7:18 pm

      You must be really stupid to believe your own drivel

    • Chris August 2, 2014 at 10:40 am

      Your claims about the ownership of the public lands is a complete fiction.

      • anti sheeple August 3, 2014 at 11:49 pm

        After listening to hours and hours of property rights and water rights explained. You can see how ignorant people are to cast blame and call names. Maybe if these accusers would take the time to do some research other than name calling, they might actually learn something. If you actually think that it is ok for the bureaucracies to shut you up and send 200+ heavily armed people to gather and kill cows is ok for any reason/excuse whatsoever, then you are a sheeple. They send these armed guards over so-called cows trespassing? Where are these heavily armed guys when our borders need to be protected.

  • Kacee July 31, 2014 at 10:06 pm

    dixiesusan, Did you forget about the Nevada constitution? Or the treaty of Guadalupe Hil dago? Do you really have any of the FACTS? I am guessing from your comments you are just deciding as you go. And interesting that my 30+ yrs of genealogy research finds Cliven Bundy’s grandfather in 1940… LIVING IN ARIZONA? Born 1885 in Nebraska? And ALL HIS CHILDREN born in Arizona? How could that be? Answer me this riddle when did the Bundy family actually become Legal Land Owners in Bunkerville?

  • Kacee July 31, 2014 at 10:12 pm

    Oh yeah and you forgot to mention that State and Federal courts have ruled against him, What about the fact that Regan appointed Lloyd George found against Bundy? OHHH a republican appointed judge? How could that be… Oh wait it’s because that’s what the law requires. But hey we don’t need no stinkin laws. I think I am going to quit paying my house payment and then call in the Militia to stand up for my right to have my property, Even if I don’t pay for it.

  • Not a Bishops Wife. August 1, 2014 at 1:09 am

    I think I’m going to start watching Fox News again. I I’ve been thinking that I need a good laugh every now and again and I understand their rhetoric has gotten pretty darn funny 🙂

    • Libitarian August 1, 2014 at 3:49 pm

      Ya it is getting funnier all the time. they have Harry reed , Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden on all the time it’s a laugh a minute. Can you imagine Uncle Joe being president ha ha ha ha. Pull you head out lady. And thing about who you are and less about who your not.

      • Chris August 2, 2014 at 10:38 am

        What is really funny is your inability to spell correctly, including your screen name. Weren’t really very good at school, were you Lib?

    • Kacee August 2, 2014 at 4:37 pm

      You should start watching Faux news. Ann Colter said “If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat [sic] president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.” And the republicans don’t have a war on women? Really Mia Love?

  • Sheeple August 1, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    Watch for the people who have sex with animals, minors and who are dependent upon every welfare program to be there to support bundy.

  • Lionden August 2, 2014 at 5:34 am

    Ahhhh, Sheeple, just come out with it…”Christians”.

  • Robert B. Winn August 2, 2014 at 9:19 am

    I once worked in a small sawmill in Montana. In 1980 I had to leave Montana because there was no place to work there. All sawmills in Lincoln County, Montana, had been shut down because a federal judge had issued a federal court injunction against logging in Montana. Cliven Bundy and other ranchers in Clark County, Nevada underwent a similar experience. They were told by the Clinton administration that they were being put out of business to save the desert tortoise. The only person who seems to have seen the advantage that ranchers had was Cliven Bundy. Ranchers owned their cattle, whereas, people in the lumber industry could not claim ownership of trees until they purchased them from the United States Forest Service. So a political party faction was able to stop the lumber industry by control of federal courts. So far, Cliven Bundy has stood off federal courts by saying that their seizure of his cattle is theft, which it is.
    The seizure of Bundy’s cattle was unsuccessful because the BLM did not follow the requirements of the law in their attempt to take the cattle. They attempted to take cattle across a state line without proper inspection. The governor of Utah stopped their illegal transportation of cattle. They refused to work with state and local officials in Clark County Nevada, which federal law requires of them. After three weeks of their multi-million dollar attempt, they had about 260 head of cattle contained, less than half of the total amount of cattle. Their efforts after that were in tearing out water systems belonging to Bundy and killing and burying cattle. That was when Ammon Bundy and other members of the Bundy family confronted BLM agents and asked what the backhoes were for. Then the BLM agents got in their cars and left.
    The Democratic Party strategists who planned this event expected to energize their base with a successful demonstration of government power against a citizen they were certain they could make unpopular. The unpopular citizen sent the Democratic Party controlled effort down the road. It was the worst miscalculation ever by political party strategists.
    All the Democratic Party got out of it was some party propaganda that does not fit the facts of what happened. They cannot arrest anyone because no laws were broken, and they certainly do not want any of this to be put in front of a jury. They are not going to attempt to confiscate the cows again because their multi-million dollar first effort was so pathetic.
    So we will see some meaningless posturing in court, and Cliven Bundy will keep raising cows. He really did win this little range war. He proved that if the federal government wants to take his cows, they will have to follow the laws of the United States and the states involved in the matter.

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