Friday, December 21, 2018

The Federal Land Grab Racket

This form of extortion is possible because a third of all U.S. land is federal property.

This is why the largest expanses of federal land are in western states like Wyoming, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada.

East of the Mississippi, average federal land ownership is only 4%. Nearly all these eastern states were consolidated prior to 1850.

Article 1 of the Constitution relegates federal property to "Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings." While a case can be made for setting aside small areas of public land of historic significance, the Framers would have regarded the actions of presidents like Roosevelt, Carter, and later Obama as federal overreach.

Obama's last-minute designation of over a million acres of land surrounding "Bears Ears" was particularly egregious because it was overwhelmingly rejected by Utah's legislature, and according to Article 1, the acquisition of federal property requires consent of the state government.

If federal lands were transferred to states, Washington would cede economic leverage over states where many people stubbornly cling to the quaint notion of enumerated powers.

Empowering western residents over all lands inside their borders not only diminishes the authority of federal bureaucrats, but also threatens their raison d'ĂȘtre because people who believe in limited government are more inclined.


https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/the_federal_land_grab_racket.html

No comments: