The Great American Land Grab
Selling public lands won't balance the budget and will morally bankrupt us
A century ago, President Teddy Roosevelt stood before the nation and declared conservation "a great moral issue." To him, safeguarding forests, rivers, and canyons was an act of patriotism performed on behalf of Americans not yet born. He warned that a nation grown “reckless and wasteful” with its inheritance would one day stand accused by its own descendants.
Today, Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to sell millions of acres of America’s public lands starkly contradicts Roosevelt’s vision, and I stand to accuse him.
Deliberately and carefully marketed as a solution to housing shortages and the runaway national debt, this shortsighted plan abandons conservative principle and moral virtue. At first glance, the idea to sell approximately half a percent of federal, public lands may seem appealing. Influencers (and his Twitter account) promise some relief from our crushing national debt and allowing for the development of affordable housing. This is just marketing for a fundamental wrong.
Roosevelt warned clearly against the illusion of short-term gain at the expense of permanent loss. Most lands proposed for sale are remote, roadless, and miles from basic infrastructure. Bringing water, power, and sewer lines to them would be prohibitively expensive, and they are often located in high cost of living areas (like Jackson, WY) where the land would be so expensive as to be out of reach. Instead, these remote lands would likely become exclusive retreats for the wealthy, purchased and developed by large developers in partnership with financial giants, doing nothing for our housing problem.
Allies of the Senator have since been deployed across social and digital media, arguing in swirling contradiction. They dismiss these acres as “remote, worthless, and mismanaged,” yet insist the same land will attract buyers, erase a slice of the deficit, and spark a housing boom. But if the land was useless, no one would want it. Speculators could (and would) buy any of the millions of private acres already blessed with roads and power lines.
The impassioned push for this particular ground exposes the scam: buried minerals, water rights, and luxury vistas are windfalls for big development. Calling that stewardship is like gutting a cathedral for its stained glass. It’s moral vandalism.
Public lands are the foundation of our rural Western communities, generating billions annually through outdoor recreation and tourism. But, even if they didn’t, it would still be our moral responsibility to preserve them. The land Senator Lee wants to auction off is the birthright of every American, not just large development companies and wealthy speculators. President Roosevelt would undoubtedly agree that Senator Lee’s plan threatens this birthright, reducing access for ordinary families who cherish these places beyond mere numbers on a balance sheet. Rather than a trust fund from which to draw equity from, public lands are living symbols of American heritage. A reminder of where we came from, left preserved to pass on to our children and grandchildren.
Moreover, Senator Lee's argument that land sales could make any tangible dent in the national debt is ludicrous at best. The revenue from these sales would scarcely register against our enormous debt, amounting to no more than trading precious American heritage for pocket change. Ultimately meaningless.
History reinforces Roosevelt’s wisdom. Americans across the political spectrum are firmly against these sorts of privatization schemes. There is a reason that this had to be snuck as a provision into a larger piece of legislation: it’s deeply unpopular. Americans recognize, as Roosevelt passionately proclaimed, that conserving natural resources is an inherently patriotic duty. Public lands represent the best of American foresight, and the very best of America.
America faces some real, honest-to-god challenges, housing affordability and fiscal responsibility among them. These problems demand genuine, thoughtful solutions–but selling our public lands is not one of them. Selling public lands is not only ineffective, it’s a cheap trick to give our birthright away.
In Roosevelt’s words, "The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value." His legacy is our legacy, and we must honor it. America’s public lands are sacred trusts given to us out of the wisdom of our ancestors. We must firmly reject Senator Lee’s misguided proposal and recommit to preserving these treasures. It is our duty and moral responsibility.