Free The American People And Land From Overregulation
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By LEWIS K. UHLER AND PETER FERRARA
Posted 04/25/2014 06:20 PM ET
Regardless of the outcome of the federal government's confrontation with Nevada citizen Cliven Bundy, some important lessons have already been learned.
We have seen our federal government (Bureau of Land Management) with arms and military vehicles confronting American citizens, not unlike Russian troops confronting Ukrainians, or Syrian troops facing off against rebels. It is scary.
We have seen a newly appointed director of the BLM, who used to work for Sen. Harry Reid, selectively enforce the "Endangered Species Act" regarding a species, the desert tortoise, never contemplated to be within the act's protection when passed in 1973 to protect the Bald Eagle. This is what precipitated the confrontation — not non-payment of grazing fees.
And yet Reid's son Rory, representing foreign solar power interests, won approval for a huge "field" of solar power panels that will interdict tortoise habitat more than Bundy's cattle.
This episode puts in clear perspective the commitment of the Obama administration to its environmental support base at the expense of average Americans, job creation (think Keystone Pipeline) and real energy source production vs. renewable energy production that has no chance of sustaining America, and is only a cover for crony capitalism (think Solyndra).
We continue to see, as a source of incredible friction between the federal government and the states, Washington's continued ownership of western lands. The feds own roughly 640 million acres of land, including 82% of Nevada, 68% of Alaska, 64% of Utah, 63% of Idaho, 61% of California, 49% of Wyoming and 48% of Oregon.
Yet, the feds own only 4% of the land east of the Mississippi, because in the early days of our nation, private land ownership and management was recognized as key to our nation's growth and success.
The Bundy family has operated a cattle ranch in Nevada for over 100 years. The government has been hounding the family for over a million dollars for cattle-grazing fees. The proper way to resolve that case is through lawyers making arguments and legal motions in court, not by sending armed military squadrons to the Bundy ranch to terrorize rural Americans.
These tactics show that the federal government under President Obama and Harry Reid is out of control.
Meanwhile, state legislators and government leaders from nine western states have demanded that Washington turn over to each of their states federal lands within those states. But that would only be a first step.
Only private, competitive markets can determine the most productive uses for current, federally owned lands. Only with private ownership in competitive markets can the people maximize freedom and prosperity in each state. Only with such private ownership can the sovereignty and self-government of all states be restored.
(The states are right that parks and monuments that remain in public lands can best be managed by the respective states.)
It is time to act in response to the Bundy incident. The federal government itself rates only a small fraction of current federally owned land as environmentally sensitive. The rest of the federal lands should be sold to the people through public auction.
Such auctions would raise tens of billions in new federal funds over a couple decades, at least, and the proceeds should be dedicated to a reserve fund for use only to pay off the national debt for the benefit of our children.
ANWR in Alaska, which could help produce billions in oil revenue, or more, with incredible tax revenues for the U.S., has been shut down by environmental forces that are also continuing their opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline and its thousands of high-paying jobs and billions in oil revenues.
The Bundy travesty is the natural and probable result of the passage of laws (here the Endangered Species Act) in which Congress delegated its legislative (rule-making) authority to executive departments and agencies that have become riddled with environmental extremists whose actions and decisions can arbitrarily shut down lives and property.
We no longer have a separation of powers but a unification of powers in executive branch agencies, creating tyranny against our own citizens and their ability to work for themselves.
To prevent other "Bundy incidents," the Endangered Species Act should be amended to require that any species preservation plan be approved by Congress before becoming effective. That would restore power to the people as our Founders intended.
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