Dead Man Protesting

Right from the get-go, when I saw LaVoy Finicum bundled up and peering out from under his Blue Tarp I said to myself, "that man is dying from some kind of cancer." His gaunt features resembled the countenance of a person with AIDS or late stage cancer. Considering the cold air, the blue tarp over his head would have provided a warmer humid air for him to breathe if he already have compromised respiration.

His eagerness to die for a cause rather than succumb to illness was evident in his rhetoric. This is why I believe that he was the only person to be killed during the highway blockade on the evening of January 26. The time was ripe. He would get no second chance to be martyred rather than die in prison of his alleged disease.

Dying of something as terrible as lung cancer would be far worse than dying for one's political beliefs. My neighbor died of lung cancer several years ago.  He had that same look LaVoy had. At a Christmas openhouse party in the neighborhood he appeared after three months of not being seen. I asked him how he was doing. He replied. "I wish I were dead."

I said, "That will come soon enough."

He replied, "NOT soon enough." I let the conversation stop there. He lasted 4 more months.

LaVoy got his 15 minutes of fame and may have sparked the flames which will consume many of his sympathizers "back at the ranch." The smarter one have packed up and left. The die-hard fanatics are strutting around in false bravado proclaiming the start of a new civil war in America. Fueled by Budweiser and Jack Daniels, they will fumble around the Wildlife Refuge leaderless until the "well regulated" government forces come to take them away.

No one needs to be injured or die in the cleanup operations. These wannabe heroes of the US Constitution just need to walk out single file without their AR-15s and other guns and take their consequences. They will get far more opportunity to speak their minds to their followers if they live to get in front of a media microphone and camera.