Ron Paul is happy that the standoff between a Nevada rancher and the Bureau of Land Management ended peacefully last week, but he fears the federal government may return in larger force.
"Governments don't give up their power easily, and they may well come back with a lot more force like they did at Waco with the Davidians," the former Republican congressman and presidential candidate said Monday on Fox News Channel's
"Your World with Neil Cavuto."
The federal government has been criticized for the Branch Davidian siege that killed 83 cult members and four ATF agents in 1993 and for the Ruby Ridge raid a year earlier that killed two members of Randy Weaver's family and a deputy U.S. marshal.
Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
The
BLM backed down Saturday on an attempt to confiscate cattle from Cliven Bundy, who has been in a dispute with the agency for 20 years over grazing rights. Militia members and others showed up from around the country to support Bundy.
Paul told Fox News he thinks that whenever people join to stand up against government, government will be forced to back down. He blamed much of the problem on the fact that most of the state of Nevada is owned by the federal government.
"When they own most of these states in the West, everybody owns it and nobody owns it," he said.
Lands should be given to the states, Paul said, and the states should sell them to the people.
"It's worked out quite well in big states as well as all our Eastern states," he said.
Public ownership creates conflicts among various interests, such as environmentalists, gold miners, oil companies and ranchers, Paul said, and problems will only increase when the economy gets into deeper trouble, as he predicts it will.
"The great danger is, what is the trigger?" Paul said. "Why will the anger be directed toward this enemy, when the enemy is really some bad ideas and bad politics that we have to change?"
Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.