It's getting tougher all the time to be a rural Nevadan.

Now don't get me wrong. We still have many things that make life "out here" special: fresh air and clear skies; roads that are in good shape and not overcrowded with urban road ragers; friends and neighbors we know and appreciate.

What's making life tougher in the sticks is the many things we have to oppose.

I believe our modern-day heritage of opposition began in 1979 with the announcement by the Air Force that rural Nevada would play host to a new intercontinental ballistic missile system. Known as the MX, it was to be a circular railroad track on which 200 missiles could be moved around to 4,600 shelters.

From the start, the red flag went up -- rural Nevadans could not allow this "rape" of our land. Opposition was expressed in town meetings throughout central Nevada and indignation was high.

And while the Carter administration's missile proposal went down the drain with the election of Ronald Reagan, rural Nevadans believed they had scored a victory with their opposition to the project. The cry of "we beat the feds" was born.

It continued to blossom with three major rural fights with federal agencies:

-- Nye County Commissioner Dick Carver mounted a bulldozer on July 4, 1994, and opened a federally closed road to Jefferson Canyon. A couple of Forest Service personnel stood up momentarily to the dozer but Carver motored ahead and they moved aside.

-- Throughout the '90s and early this century, Nye County rancher Wayne Hage fought the feds on their home turf -- federal court. After 100 of his cattle were confiscated in 1991, he spent more than a decade battling his "takings" case in the U.S. Court of Appeals. He finally won a ruling that said he had title to his vested water rights and the "free lands" within the boundaries of his range allotment.

-- And on Independence Day 2000, the Jarbidge "Shovel Brigade" rebuilt a washed-out road in Elko County that had been neglected for five years by federal officials who had promised to rebuild the washout.

In all three cases, ruralites flexed their muscles in opposition to the feds and, generally speaking, won the battles.

We should not forget those who fight the Yucca Mountain Project. If ever there was an issue that stirs up our opposing spirit, it must be this federal monstrosity threatening rural Nevada.

Of course, a large majority of Nevadans are in on this one. But it is a special rural issue because the dreaded nuclear waste would someday crisscross cow routes on the way to the repository, which is planned for a pristine patch of Nye County.

Our leaders from Washington, D.C., to Goldfield (the county seat of Esmeralda County) have hollered loud and long that we must be strong in our opposition. We must be united in the fight. And while lining our pockets with federal Payments Equal to Taxes funds as compensation for hosting the site, we continue the opposition lest the oft-delayed project open in 2017 (or probably later).

That's one great big mountain of opposition for anyone to shoulder as a rural battle.

However, enough is not enough. Now we are called on to rustle up our dander and fight our big-city kinfolk over water. No self-respecting ruralite can help but oppose the $2 billion water grab advocated by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has its sights set on White Pine County's Spring Valley.

Our rural "spokesmen" even went so far as to take a giant water tank to the steps of the Legislature to proclaim our angst at the importation plan. Of course, a rancher in cowboy hat, jeans and boots made a great photo op for the media, and it clearly showed that rural Nevada is ready to fight once again.

It can be claimed that all of these fights were "pro"-rural Nevada and were not in opposition to others. But let's be clear -- 180 people showed up far from anywhere to see Carver open the road in opposition to the feds. It even got him on the cover of Time magazine.

Had these efforts been couched in terms of promoting rural rights, the impact would have been far less significant.

So we continue to oppose, oppose and oppose. We stand ready to fight for all that is right and good about rural Nevada. If you close our lands for wilderness, take our lands for federal projects or want to steal our water for big-city growth, we stand in opposition.

But it makes me wonder: How much opposition do we have left in us?

I'm tired of being against everything.

Bill Roberts is a veteran journalist in Tonopah. His column appears Wednesday. Contact him at broberts@ reviewjournal.com.