This is so much bigger than just the Bundy family and their cattle. This is about Freedom from Tyranny by an out of control Federal monster that will gorge itself on land and power every chance it gets until We the People stop it.
Sent: Saturday,
May 03, 2014 9:12 AM
To:
Subject: Plan to
Liberate Western Lands
and Evict Fed + Legislator Mtg. Utah to debate Fed. Lands
Take-over
Lawmakers Unveil Plan to Liberate Western Lands and Evict Feds
With the now-infamous
federal abuses against the Bundy ranching family and its
supporters in Nevada helping to awaken a sleeping giant,
liberty-minded elected officials from Western states are coming together with
citizens to take action in defense of the Constitution and the West. Their
mission: to wrest control over the vast expanses of land and wealth in the
region that are unconstitutionally claimed by the Washington, D.C.-based
political and bureaucratic classes. Now, a new alliance of lawmakers and
citizens has a concrete plan to make those goals a
reality.
As The New American
reported this week, more than 50
elected officials from nine Western states met on April 18 at the Utah Capitol
for the Legislative Summit on the Transfer for Public Lands.
Among them were state House speakers, state senators, a U.S.
senator, county commissioners, and more. The goal, multiple organizers and
attendees explained, is to strip the federal government of the almost 50 percent
of land in Western states that it claims to “own” in defiance of the U.S.
Constitution and various agreements.
One of the lawmakers who participated, Washington State Rep. Matt
Shea, a liberty-minded Republican who also stood with the Bundy family, says that
lawmakers from Western states are determined to protect the Constitution and
their constituents. “Legislators from across the West are saying enough is
enough,” Rep. Shea told The New
American after the summit in Salt Lake City. “We are banding together to
fight federal overreach wherever
it rears its ugly head, not just talk about it.”
To do that, last week, another alliance of lawmakers, citizens,
businessman, ranchers, sheriffs, officials, and more came together and created
the Coalition of Western
States United Against Tyranny, or COWS for short.
Already, the network has seen phenomenal growth, with more than 25 lawmakers
joining up by April 22, Rep. Shea explained. “COWS has grown massively in just
one week and legislators from all over the West are jumping on board,” he said,
adding that he was “absolutely” optimistic about their prospects for
success.
COWS advocates a five-step process to evict the self-styled federal landlords from the
Western United States, Rep. Shea
explained. In the short term, county governments should draw up management
plans for the land in coordination with state and
federal agencies. Already, federal law requires
that U.S. bureaucracies work with local
officials, though in practice, that rarely happens. At the same time,
states should also introduce and pass legislation to prohibit any net loss of
private land to government.
In the longer term, federally (mis)managed lands should be
transferred over to state authorities, “because government closest to the people
is best,” Rep. Shea continued. “The federal government cannot possibly know how
best to manage land in the thousands of different locales like the people of
those areas could,” the popular Republican lawmaker explained, echoing the
sentiments of countless other policymakers and activists who say the federal
government needs to be stripped of its vast, unconstitutional land
holdings.
Then there is the issue of keeping promises. As the Western
territories were officially becoming states, like in the East, the federal
government agreed to eventually transfer those lands. However, as with so many
other promises made by the D.C.-based political class, so far, it has not been
fulfilled. “The enabling acts of the Western
States make it clear the federal government was meant to be a steward only until
such time that the states could manage,” Rep. Shea
explained.
The state of Utah has taken the strongest action thus far
toward ensuring that the feds comply. In 2012, lawmakers passed and the governor
signed a law demanding that the federal
government relinquish control over much of the estimated two-thirds of territory
inside Utah’s
borders it claims to control. The law specifically cited those
agreements from when Utah joined the Union,
threatening a lawsuit if Washington, D.C. refuses to
comply.
Perhaps the most important issue at play in the whole land issue,
though, is the U.S. Constitution. “Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution
spells out what types of property the federal government can ‘own’,” Rep. Shea
continued, pointing out that, outside of a few limited exceptions, it is not
constitutional for Washington, D.C., to own or control land — much less half of
the Western United States, and as much as 85 percent of some states such as
Nevada.
Rep. Shea also pointed to The
Federalist, No. 45, which (he notes) “makes clear the intent” of
America’s Founding Fathers. “The
powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few
and defined,” the document states. “Those which are to remain in the State
governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised
principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign
commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be
connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the
objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties,
and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and
prosperity of the State.”
Eventually, also in the long term, some of the land wrested from the
federal government should be sold off to private parties “as required in the
enabling acts of most of the states,” Rep. Shea continued. Indeed, numerous
lawmakers and analysts say at least some of that land should be privatized,
allowing the Western states to boost their economy and tax base while extending
private-property rights to a broader area and a potentially greater number of
individuals. Exactly how much land should be kept in the hands of state and
local authorities could be decided going forward.
The economic and environmental benefits, though, would be
significant. “It would have a massive positive impact putting that land back into productive use
for both the economy and the tax base,” Rep. Shea explained, again echoing the
recently expressed concerns of dozens of powerful lawmakers and countless
Western-state citizens, with some estimates suggesting that there is around $150
trillion in mineral wealth alone. “In fact, in the enabling act that brought
Washington State into the Union,
the proceeds from a portion of the sale of that land must go to specifically
funding education.”
Finally, the fifth step in the process would be to disarm federal bureaucrats — a demand
that is growing increasingly urgent after the federal terror unleashed by
heavily armed Bureau of Land Management officials against the Bundy family and
friends in Nevada. “This is not an isolated incident and
is part of a broader war on rural America,” Rep. Shea explained.
“Bureaucratic rules and regulations are functionally disallowing the viable
economic use of large swaths of land in the West. Regardless, a sniper rifle and
killing instead of seizing cattle is not due
process.”
With the public increasingly galvanized against federal abuses and
lawlessness after the Bundy ranch fiasco, now is a perfect time for state
governments and the American people to put the U.S. government back in its
constitutional cage where it belongs — and where it cannot send in heavily armed storm troopers to terrorize ranchers
and protesters over alleged unpaid “fees” or tortoises. The
alternative is more and more
Bundy ranch-style paramilitary disasters, along with eventual tyranny. With optimistic Western
lawmakers making strong and popular moves to protect liberty and evict the feds,
though, liberty-minded Americans have good reason to be optimistic as
well.
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, education, environment, politics, and more. He
can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled
to view it. . Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU.
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