In 2016, Ammon Bundy, his father Clive, and numerous good ole boys armed to the teeth, confronted federal agents collecting past-due grazing fees on 400 head of Bundy cows running on government land in Nevada. Ten years later, Ammon is broke and wondering where his former “band members” are after Alex Pretti was murdered in broad daylight by ICE in Minneapolis while legally carrying a firearm.
In a recent self-published essay, Ammon protested President Trump’s treatment of undocumented immigrants. “To call such people criminals for lacking official permission” to be here, he wrote, “is to forget the moral law of God, the historical truth of our own founding, and the Constitutional ideals that continue to define justice.” Ammon said ICE’s conduct “clearly looked like tyranny” after an ICE agent shot Renee Good.
Substack author Jess Piper wrote about Ammon’s predicament. “I live in MAGA country (Northwest Missouri),” she wrote. “I live around men who are anti-government, anti-vax, anti-LGBTQ, and who have collected guns for decades to fight ‘government tyranny.'” Piper describes Ammon’s militant armed posers as “Don’t Tread on Me” patriots who stood up for cows but not for humans. ICE can commit murder all day long if it isn’t aimed at them.
Ammon still doesn’t care about democracy, but at least he’s consistent about the morality of federal officials oppressing regular Americans. Piper adds that Bundy’s disillusionment is linked to militant Christian masculinity that author Kristin Kobes describes in her book “Jesus and John Wayne.” Kobes exposes a radical movement in Christian churches and schools fueled by right-wing politics. These militants distort Biblical teachings of acceptance of all people and work feverishly (sans irony) to overturn the rights of women and minorities while uplifting the true “masculine” man. Their core beliefs indicate, as Kobes puts it, “Jesus can save your soul, but John Wayne will save your ass.”
Piper and Kobes point to a dark cultural danger. Make America Great Again is supported by aggrieved males who stand up for themselves, their friends and families but not for all Americans. They certainly don’t want to save democracy and preserve Americans’ God-given rights under the Constitution.
Why? Because most of them prefer 10-gallon hats without much underneath. That doesn’t take much courage. Just a big head.
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Duane Kanagy
Gettysburg
717-253-3710
