Wingnut Plan To Turn Arizona County Into New Somalia Still On Track. Good Luck With That!

Ritchie Mack, he's a sheriff down in 'Zona...

More straight out delusion from our pals in the "Constitutional Sheriff" community, who still want to get themselves elected into power in Navajo County, Arizona, and then tell the Federal Government to bugger off, just as the Constitution demands in Article Because, Clause I Say So. Back in 2014, you may recall, in the wake of the Glorious Popular Uprising at the Bundy Ranch, one of the instigators from that debacle, former sheriff Richard Mack, announced that all the nation's wingnuts should move to Navajo County and elect him Sheriff in 2016, after which a real "Constitutional" county government would be put in place by all of his allies who would also be elected. Everyone would have a gun, and everyone would have a share.

As Mack said at the time -- at a pro-gun rally in Olympia, Washington, logically enough, because none of the militia faithful had yet moved to Arizona -- it was a fantastic opportunity to show the world how free people can Go Galt:

“I want you to carefully, prayerfully consider moving there with me, and I’m serious. You want to live in a free county? You want to live by constitutional law? You want to not be worried about federal government coming in and ruining your lives and families and hauling you off at midnight? Come live with us there,” he said.

He said that the establishment of “constitutional counties” was the last “peaceful” option for the movement to “regain our constitution and freedom in America.”

You see, Mack -- nationally known as the one-man brain trust who suggested that in case the Feds started shooting at the Bundyites, the women should stand out front so they'd be slaughtered first, thus winning sympathy for The Cause -- is one of those loons who just knows that the highest real authority in any jurisdiction is the County Sheriff, and he has his very own pretend national organization, the “Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association,” which totally agrees with him on that point.

Sadly, Mack's plans to take over Navajo County were set back a bit when he and his wife both got seriously ill without insurance, and begged liberals to save him because he had refused to buy insurance under Obamacare, on principle. Those health problems kept him from running this year, but the dream is still alive: he's supporting "Constitutional" Republican candidate for sheriff Dawn Wilson, and once she wins plans to serve as her "under-sheriff." In addition to having some really odd ideas about the Constitution, Richard Mack is apparently unaware that anyone calling himself the "under-sheriff" is virtually begging for a lot of third-grade jokes, and possibly some actual tighty whiteys, to be flung his way.

Ms. Wilson explained her plans for doing Constitutional Sheriffing in a radio interview along with Mack in early August:

I want to first of all train our officers on the Constitution, train our citizens to know their rights, and then I want to build a barrier between the citizens of Navajo County and the federal government to keep them out. They don’t need to be coming into our county and harassing us, they don’t need to be calling for gun control. The sheriff needs to stand up and put their foot down and say, "No, it’s not going to happen here.”

Presumably that would also include keeping out -- through threat of arrest, maybe? -- agents of such unconstitutional federal agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and Environmental Protection Agency, since when the Second Amendment (and the rest of the Constitution) was adopted to give people Liberty and guns, there was actually no such thing as the "environment."

RightWingWatch notes Wilson may not find her way to legitimate authority all that easy, seeing as how the expected surge of Freedom-Loving Patriots into Navajo County never happened (or maybe a lot of the hot prospects ended up in jail after this year's Oregon standoff), so she and her underbuddy will have to win over the folks who already live there:

Mack said in a late July radio interview that his and Wilson’s candidacy was a “long shot.” Wilson is up against one opponent in the August 30 GOP primary and then would face the Democratic incumbent in the general election. Mack mentioned in the interview that his and Wilson’s chances would improve if they gained the support of the Navajo Nation. The county, which includes large parts of several Indian reservations, is about 45 percent American Indian. 

That should certainly do the trick. If there's anything the Navajo, Hopi, and White Mountain Apache people get enthusiastic about, it's a bunch of white strangers with guns showing up out of god knows where and announcing they know what's best for them.

[ RightWingWatch / Navajo County ]