Life, liberty, and property are three fundamental rights deeply tied together. If one is seized, the other two are automatically restricted as well, leading to enslavement.
Lands thought to be controlled by the states have long been discreetly controlled by the federal government. An estimated 640 million acres, or 28% of America’s land, is owned and managed by the federal government, according to a congressional research report.
State sovereignty doesn’t exist in most of the western United States. In Nevada, 80.1% of the land is owned and managed by the federal government. More than half of the land in Utah, Idaho, Alaska, and Oregon is federally owned as well. Federally owned means the land is managed by five agencies: the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Department of Defense.
“We can see the Republic is not operating harmoniously because whenever they want something in Washington, they can simply hold the western states hostage and they know they’ve got the votes,” argued Utah Rep. Ken Ivory at the COSF Simulated Article V Convention. “That’s not how our Republic is supposed to function.”
The western states are "exploitable," he said, explaining that the federal government essentially holds a gun to their heads.
Not only is political power held in controlling western states' property, but the government also locks in mineral rights, valuable assets found deep beneath the soil. Wyoming's land, in which the government owns 97,813 square miles, harbors rich natural resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas, but the state is barred from accessing its own resources as a result of federal overreach.
A 2013 study from Institute for Energy Research (IER) found that the government owns approximately $128 trillion in oil and natural gas, four times the national debt. IER estimated the government’s coal resources in the lower 48 states are worth $22.5 trillion, making the government’s fossil fuel wealth above $150 trillion.
Rep. Ivory said that when the states are deprived of property tax from these federally-owned lands, the replacement is something called PILT, Payment In Lieu of Taxes.
“Now in the West, we call it Pennies in Lieu of Trillions, because the Government Accountability Office has said that in just Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, there's more recoverable oil than the rest of the world combined locked up in federally controlled lands.”
During the recent Simulated Article V Convention, commissioners voted to restrict the federal government from interfering with state lands without explicit permission from state governments.
The proposed constitutional amendment reads: “Except with the permission of the Legislature of the State where the land is located, the national government shall not own, regulate, or control land or mineral rights, nor the proceeds from the sale of the same.”
The proposal requires Congress to return or cede all remaining lands and mineral rights to the states.
Property enables individuals to prosper free from outside interference. As seen in the recent simulation, an Article V convention can return land ownership to the states, where it was always intended. The states must stand up and take back control, and it starts with Convention of States.
To support the movement, sign the COS petition below.
