Posted on 12/08/2015 7:45:36 AM PST by rktman
But âa picture is worth a thousand words,â according to Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resourcesâ Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. So, his full committee created an interactive map revealing every acre the federal government owns in each congressional district, color-coded by agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Do the rapidly proliferating National Monument lands count as part of Uncle Sam’s empire? Or were they already “his”, with the designation just reducing “our” usage, for example, as in logging, grazing, or just toolin’ around.
The doctrine being “all land has an owner.” Maybe you want Warren Buffett to own it all?
Sorry. I think he’s restricted to railroads and rc willey’s. Oh, and capital gains. All legal so what am I complaining about? :>)
Liberty Media tycoon John Malone owns 2.2 million acres, more than twice the size of Delaware.
Instead, the states with such claims agreed to yield them to the federal government in the interest of a coherent (and peaceful) national settlement policy in the West. Then followed the Louisiana purchase, the acquisition of Florida from Spain, the conquest of the southwest from Mexico, the Gadsden purchase, the settlement with Britain over the Pacific Northwest territories, and the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The exceptions to the rule were Texas and Hawaii, both of which were independent republics before joining the Union.
The feds by and large did not "take" land from the states and the people; the federal government always owned it. What changed in the late 19th century was the longstanding policy of privatizing the federal estate as rapidly as possible, which is why federal lands are concentrated in the West.
If I could wave a magic wand and redistribute the acreage, I would sell off some of the federal lands in the West and increase federal parkland in the East (especially, given the targets of opportunity, for historical preservation). A lot of the nutty politics regarding federal lands arises from maldistribution. People in the West live surrounded by federal lands, and the feds are not always sensitive to their needs. The overcrowded East, however, would benefit from increased parks and open space, especially in proximity to major cities. History has dealt us a problem.
” Can we charge them rent? “
I know you are half joking, but I like this idea. We start by charging $10,000 per year rent to every member of congress.Let’s see how fast the fedgov sells off government held land : )
The fedgov never intended to own the land forever: they were interested in getting it settled and occupied. Thus the Oklahoma land rush and various homesteader settlement plans.
What we have now is vast areas of the West designated by Easterners as their own version of Disneyland, a giant amusement park reserved to the young bike-riders and hikers, and off-limits to motorized transportation.
Even bike riding is forbidden in vast acreages.
The feds by and large did not “take” land from the states and the people; the federal government always owned it.
HOW?
You forget somebody, white man.
First buy up all the property, and make private property ownership illegal.
Then the government doesn’t just own everything, the leviathan will also own everyone.
Mark
Thanks for sharing! Bkmrk
The western states are indeed abused by an absentee federal landlord heavily oriented towards urban constituencies. People who live in the megalopolis and fiercely resent spending the majority of their non-work waking hours stuck in traffic are easy marks for environmental radicalism. They view open space as a vacation destination and have no glimmer of the issues facing rural people trying to make a living. The East needs more parkland close to major cities. The pent up demand of Manhattanites gets displaced onto Montana and Idaho. Maybe we should designate the entire Meadowlands as the Great American Swamp Park and set about restoring it to its natural state. Let urbanites fight some of these battles on their own turf.
The ENTIRE state of Tennessee?
My God... that website has more trackers and ad service hooks than Fox has actual news! I can’t bring myself to turn off my script, adware, and tracking software blockers to see the actual map. I’m sure it’s a lot.
The Daily Caller is so overwhelmed with ad content that by the time my adblocker software is finished, the site renders with a header, footer, and no content!
Sorry. I usually post stuff from them in the print version to avoid the pop ups etc but I think the interactive map no worky in print mode. In any case, the feds control a LOT of the land. But, aren’t the feds funded by us?
Before Clinton left office there was a large discovery of coal reserves in, I think, Utah. Clinton promptly declared the property a National Monument to stop any mining from going on. If I remember correctly that was one of Clinton’s parting gifts to us. There was a coal co. trying to get a permit to mine it at the time. Had the co. just paid him off they would be mining now.
True. IIRC correctly, that was on BLM land so the feds controlled the leasing. The other wrinkle to the wtory is that the Lippo Group owned some competing coal reserves.
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