Q&A with Ammon Bundy, Independent Candidate for Governor of Idaho

Interview by Tom Munds Edited by Bob “Nugie” Neugebauer

Do you support Border Walls?

We should be practical about why we are building the wall. Before putting up a border wall you need to ask the question, is it necessary and is it practical such as defending our border. We have a large flow of illegals coming into our country. The question is why they are coming in and is it a good or bad thing to have this flow. There are 3 types of people coming into our country. 1. Those who are coming in for a free handout of just about everything such as medical care, welfare, free food, things they can’t get where they came from. 2. They are coming for Criminal opportunities where they see a lot of wealth and have less of a chance to be prosecuted as our judicial system continues to break down. 3 There are those looking for freedom, opportunity and a place where they can prosper, and their families can be safe. The first two we definitely don’t want but the third are just like our ancestors who came here looking for a better life. Let’s face it America has been built on immigration as we are all immigrants. If you want to stop those coming in for handouts just stop the handouts and welfare. Walls can deter criminals, but walls are not really the answer. How about a strong defense in individual rights where our policing agencies are prosecuting criminals and punishing them appropriately. If we find that we can’t control illegals by eliminating handouts and coming down hard on criminals, then it is time to build a wall. We need to send the message far and wide don’t come to America for a handout because there is none and if you’re a criminal looking for opportunity you will find our justice system quite harsh including capital punishment.

Do you believe in the legalization of Pot (marijuana)?

I have never seen a founding document including our constitution which gives the government the authority to stop people from growing a plant nor does the government have any jurisdiction over our bodies. It is only when we harm someone that the government has the right to correct that problem. What it comes down to is the government does not have the constitutional power to tell people what they can and cannot grow. Keep in mind that Our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written on paper made from a Hemp Plant. Now while that is scary to some people who think this will bring a drug problem to Idaho it is just not true. If you give control to the government of what you can put in your body with one thing, they will have control of another thing which we saw with the vaccine mandates. When you allow for exceptions, you wind up with many inconsistencies in what our government can and cannot do. The only time the government should be able to step in is if there is harm being done to someone else and then they should be heavily punished. Is it any different than alcohol which is permitted until you get so drunk that you hurt someone else. Government has redefined what a crime is when it comes to restricting something like marijuana.

What is your position on deportation?

I believe deportation needs to have due process which needs to happen if they commit a crime. Deportation is not something that is within the realm of the governor of a state.

Did you ever support Black Lives Matter?

I have never supported Black Lives Matter nor the Bureau of Land Management. Black Lives Matter is a wicked Marxist organization. Do I support what happened to George Floyd? Absolutely not, you don’t take a life insensibly. I have been promoting exactly the opposite of what Black Lives Matter has been promoting. I don’t like or dislike law enforcement however, it is useful very much like fire when monitored and controlled but left unchecked it can become dangerous and destructive.

What made you change political parties from Republican to Independent?

I wish it was a stroke of brilliance on my part, but it wasn’t. I have always believed that God points us in certain directions, and I believe he is the one who drove me to run as an Independent. As I shared the idea with my campaign staff the more, they thought it was a stroke of brilliance. By circumventing the Republican Primary, it saved me from winding up in the same dilemma that so many have in the past. When you have too many republicans running in the same race the establishment republicans win by default. The establishment republicans are more like the democrats as they look at people like me as a threat to their power. Let’s just look at Governor Little, he was the only Idaho representative to support gay marriage when Prop 8 was in play. He has increased the food stamps program by 24.2%, the highest of all 50 states. He is putting at least $50 million of covid money into free housing. He supported Obama with Medicaid Expansion, and the list goes on. I mention these things because free food, housing, healthcare and the gay ideology have been the liberal staple for the past two decades. No one has pushed and moved that agenda more than Governor Brad Little. So, with me running as an independent Idahoans have a choice between a true conservative or our current rino. Think about this, during the Covid Emergency declared by Little Idaho was the first state to arrest its citizens for attending a church service, the first to arrest a mother for taking her children to a park, one of the first states to raid businesses for not shutting down during the lockdown. All this was done under Governor Littles orders. Do you call that conservative? Of course not, this is totalitarianism. He even had pastors arrested outside of church.

Some people have said you compare yourself to Jesus or Martin Luther King is that true?

Well, I’m not a black activist and I’m not the savior of the world. I don’t even know why they would think that.

We have often seen Pam Hemphill out recording various events and it was said that you had asked her not to record you is that true?

I don’t ever remember saying anything like that. I have no idea why this would ever be an issue as people are recording me all the time.

Have you ever said that it is ok to sell Idaho lands?

Sixty-one percent of our land is controlled by the federal government and 72% of our subsurface mineral rights are controlled by the federal government. They control 33 million acres of Idaho’s land. Part of our affordable house problem can be attributed to this. If I’m elected Governor, I’m proposing to take back our land as it is being unconstitutionally controlled by the federal government which is causing many problems. One of those is our affordable housing crisis as we are building on our agricultural land because they own so much. We can’t even pay our own bills and must go back to the federal government every year for money. They say we will give us money but then we must put critical race theory in your schools along with common core. What I’m proposing is we take back all 33 million acres which belong to the people of Idaho not the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. I propose we take some of these lands, say a million acres or so around our towns and open them up for housing development while preserving the hunting, fishing and camping grounds for multiple use. These lands could also be used for grazing, mining and logging the way it was originally intended. The big question is when more growth comes to Idaho how do we expand? We can’t as we have densely populated cities like Boise and Meridian, and they are slowly turning more liberal. Because of their large population they control the political climate of the rest of the state. If we don’t have the use of our land, it cuts off our natural resources and as cities grow, we become more and more dependent on the federal government. We can’t expand our towns and cities without taking back these lands that have been sequestered. Pretty soon we will be in a situation where the next generation will not be able to afford homes in the state they grew up in. We need to take back our lands because each year the federal government is locking up more of our land that we need to grow our state. If the environmentalists get their way their plan is to completely lock it up. When you think about it you must wonder if Washington is not using our land as collateral for our national debt with countries like China.

Do you believe it is ok for businesses to force vaccine mandates without limitations?

That is untrue. If you work for a corporation or businesses that force vaccine mandates, you ultimately have a choice to stay at that company and take the shot or leave and find other employment. If you are an employee that the company values, they will change their policy so you can keep working there. Let’s say I start a business that is mine because I bought the buildings and took the loans and I’m the one accountable for that business. I hire you and you enter into an agreement for me to pay you a certain sum of money for each hour worked and you agree to those terms. Suppose I tell you that you now must wear blue shoes and you refuse to wear blue shoes. It is your right to refuse to wear blue shoes and if we can’t come to an agreement, I have the right to fire you. Your employment is not something you are entitled to, it is a privilege. It’s the government that pushes these problems like vaccinations on employers by coercion so the ultimate one responsible for your employer’s mandate for you to get a vaccine lies with the government and that is who we should be going after.

Did you tell the Peoples Rights group to get arrested?

No in-fact I told them just the opposite. We were trying to stand up for the people at these public meetings and they were arresting us for not wearing masks. The capital arrests were another fiasco where our people got arrested and what we have now is many of our supporters and members are in the courts fighting their arrests. Personally, I never wanted anything to do with the courts but was caught up in this while protesting. I decided that we were not going to find our liberties in the courts, so my suggestion was to get out of the courts without a plea and just accept the verdict. I believed that if you were going to make a difference in the courts you would have to have so many people show up for a protest that there would be too many to deal with and would just bog them down till they would stop the arrests. The Peoples rights group thought I was saying you should all get arrested and that was not what I was saying at all. Peoples Rights is a network to unite people to defend their rights under the constitution. Our purpose was not to become like so many other organizations like the Tea Party which become very political. Peoples Rights is about uniting neighbors to defend their rights. We are not a political organization used to support various candidates. Go back to the time of the ratification and signing of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution but there were still people who were not considered equal then after the civil war we passed the 14^th amendment declaring all people were created equal. We put forth these documents, but we still had people who were not treated equally in our country and that prevailed in many ways right up till the 1960’s. Then there was a movement that took place where people of color demanded to be treated equally and started sitting in the front of the bus, drinking from water fountains marked for whites only, going into public bathrooms, sitting in the white sections of restaurants and entering public schools. They demanded equal treatment and that is when they got things changed and started to be treated equally. Peoples Rights is similar in that we defend our rights to be free and history proves that once you do that the courts and legislatures will recognize our rights.

What happened at the Bundy Ranch?

The Federal government had gotten a judgement against my father which prohibited him from ranching there anymore. It was a terrible judgement that was politically motivated. People came from all over to surround my father to defend his rights which are documented with the state of Nevada. Today my dad still ranches with his original rights just like my grandfather did back in 1876. Now those federal judgements are still there but they will not enforce them because they know that the American people will not put up with that type of oppression. This should show you that when the people assert their will, they have more power even against the federal government. That’s what the people’s rights network is about, not about begging someone in the capitol building to give us our freedoms. It was a similar situation with Baby Cyrus where we asserted our rights, and they knew they were wrong and knew they had to straighten this problem out which they did without going to the legislature or the courts for help. Therefore, we are not politically engaged as it would defeat our purpose. On November 8^th the people will have a choice to make whether they are going to empower the establishment or vote for conservative principles and preserve Idaho as a bastion of liberty and freedom, it’s their choice.

What types of principals are you guided by?

All of my principals of Keep Idaho Idaho are rooted in the Bible. Our Constitution and Declaration of Independence were based on biblical principles. Many times, conservatives are being told what to think and believe by their leaders even if it doesn’t align with the bible or Gods way of treating each other.

So Mr. Bundy will you support and defend the Constitution of the United States so help you God?

I will and I have.

Do you believe in our founders writing of our constitution in its original form or do you believe it is a living breathing document?

I don’t believe that the Constitution is a living breathing document as many liberals do. It’s a black and white document built on principles of checks and balances, limitations, the protection of individual rights because those rights don’t change according to what time frame in history you were born into. The constitution is a set of principles to organize and allow government to be governed and I absolutely believe that it is essential that we enforce and embrace it