Tree of Liberty

We never imagined it would be the blood of our husband and father watering the 'Tree of Liberty' that Thomas Jefferson spoke of in years past.

  For those new to the LaVoy Finicum Assassination story (video of his murder), it began years ago as he practiced daily diligence in the things that develop mind, body and spirit. Such practices enabled him to be the powerful voice America knows him to be.

 The more he studied the more he began to recognize how tyranny's iron fist was intimately in the lives of the American people. This weighed heavily on his soul because he was a man of principle. As a God fearing man, he understood the responsibility and obligation he had to stand in his respective sphere for the cause of liberty. 

  

His sphere to stand for liberty was in ranching. The grass that fed his cattle on his ranch was a personal property right by prior appropriation. He purchased that grazing right from the prior owner. He did not purchase this grass property right from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This right existed before the BLM came to be.

  

 LaVoy asked himself why it was that an unelected bureaucrat had power to dictate and regulate, by force, how a rancher functioned on his or her ranch? This issue is not about cows and it's not about grass, it's about property rights. If you do not have property rights you do not have freedom. A society cannot long remain at peace when the right to control personal property is infringed upon. What the BLM is...

At gaining this understanding, through study, he no longer in good conscious, could endorse the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the managers of his ranch, for it never was theirs to manage in the first place. This was how he could make a stand for liberty. He understood how important it was that he honor his property rights, for if he did not, they would be lost. He hoped and invited others to do the same in their respective spheres. He publically announced that he canceled all contracts with the Bureau of Land Management and did not need their assistance in maintaining his ranch. He communicated that he would pay a production tax to his county.

  

There has been much confusion among the public about this topic because there is a lack of understanding about how preemptive rights are created. Our forefathers call such rights natural rights or self evident. To explain that in depth will require another post.    

  

He continued forward managing his ranch while receiving threatening letters from the BLM. Every spare moment was spent to educate anyone willing to listen to Constitutional truth through radio, town meetings and late night discussions with ranching friends. All of his happenings were documented on his YouTube channel for the world to see. His YouTube channel

  

He followed the stories of other oppressed ranching families to know how to assist them in defending their property rights. LaVoy was so overwhelmed at the injustice inflicted upon the Hammond Family in Burns, Oregon.  (LaVoy's YouTube about Hammond Family) On Saturday, January 2nd, he decided to attend the peaceful protest to support the Hammond family who had been sentenced with double jeopardy on top of $400,000 in fines, a clear violation of the 8th amendment. Not to mention how the Hammond family was forced to give right of first refusal of their ranch to the Bureau of Land Management. This conflict all derived from a long stem of abuse from the BLM. In layman terms, the unelected BLM regulated and fined these land owners, forcing them to need to sell and they couldn't even sell it to who they wanted to! Smells like a evil conspiracy. BLM Harassment to Hammond Family

 

Upon his arrival, he and some other trusted ranchers decided to take a firm stand against the tyranny transpiring in Burns, Oregon. After all due process measures had been exhausted and ignored they had no other choice but to exercise their right to participate in civil disobedience by occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. This location was 30 minuets out of town and used as a work place to gather evidence and provide education to local ranchers who were also being oppressed in that county.  

 

The main stream media characterized these peaceful protestors as anti-government dangerous terrorists. These cowboys were PEACFULLY exercising their 1st amendment rights while exercising their 2nd amendment right in confronting a very corrupt power. They, in no way were what the media characterized them to be. Their days in Oregon were spent meeting with the people, befriending them, helping them and teaching them the principles that our leaders have abandoned. Many were grateful they had come because they were giving them hope that they too could regain what had been unlawfully stolen from them by the overreaching government.

 

Throughout history a few courageous people have stood alone and held uncommon views. Cicero, Joan of Arc, Sir Thomas More, and the Founders of the American Republic. They all had one thing in common: they were mocked, ridiculed and called extremists. Today’s defenders of the U.S. Constitution are now call “Domestic Terrorists.” But isn’t it interesting to note that yesterday’s extremists typically become tomorrow’s heroes? LaVoy and the other cowboys who sacrificed their time and talent to courageously stand for their God given rights against this tyrannical government are the true hero’s of today’s American history.

They tirelessly continued their selfless work and found much success in uncovering much corruption. Eye witnesses of unlawful conduct of key figures in that county started coming forward and giving their testimony, evidence for the case of the Hammond family seemed to flow unto them. People in Harney County and neighboring county’s began to discern the cowboy’s motives by witnessing the fruits they produced. They were documenting their progress on the web for the world to follow. People all across this country, and even in different countries, were being enlightened and changed by the cowboy's work at the refuge. Because of the public interest, legislatures and congressmen were forced to get off their own agenda and pay attention to the constitutional crisis going on in rural Burns, Oregon. Constitutional sheriffs began to collaborate with the peaceful protestors at the refuge to endorse them and use their elected authority to get things happening. For all these reasons, are why LaVoy was assassinated. It is a deep conspiracy that is so huge and beyond my father’s martyr.

The day our husband and father was assassinated, they were in transit to Grant County, a neighboring county to Harney County. The Grant County sheriff, Glenn Palmer, gathered a gymnasium full of his county citizens to hear the cowboys message of hope. LaVoy was killed in cold blood because he was successful at reaching into the hearts of those he spoke with and inspiring them to take courage to make an educated stand for liberty. The power, authority and humility he  possessed was a real threat to our corrupt leaders.

 

Whether or not you believe our husband and father did the right thing, I ask you: who are we as Americans? Who are we as human beings? Do we now believe that mere words justify the use of deadly force? Do we believe that peaceful actions justify the use of deadly force? Do we believe that two hands up in surrender justifies the use of deadly force? And do we believe that following the rule of law- the U.S. Constitution warrants the use of deadly force? If we do, then where is liberty?

 

I ask you now, what does your conscience tell you?

 

With courage and God given wisdom are you willing to appropriately use your agency to act rather than be acted upon?

 

Are you willing to be free?

  

Written by: Thara Tenney (LaVoy's Daughter)