title:  Republicans Draft Platform Plank To Take Public Lands Away From The People
text: The GOP is bowing down to Cliven Bundy and his band of domestic terrorists by giving them exactly what they want.A proposal has been drafted to strip the federal government of all public lands and give it all to the states for private uses that would likely destroy what has been protected and conserved for generations. You know, the public lands that include National Forests and natural treasures like the Grand Canyon.In 2014, Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff against the federal government because he refused to pay grazing fees even though his cattle were grazing on federal property. And earlier this year, Bundy s sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy led an armed seizure of a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon that last for weeks until the FBI arrested them. All three Bundy s are now behind bars but the GOP is poised to adopt their wrongly held position that the federal government can t own land.In fact, Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifically gives the federal government the power to own and regulate land.The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.But Republicans are proposing to turn over all public lands to the states so that they can sell them off to the highest bidders and strip the lands of all the resources. Congress should reconsider whether parts of the federal government s enormous landholdings and control of water in the West could be better used for ranching, mining or forestry through private ownership,  the draft says.  Timber is a renewable natural resource, which provides jobs to thousands of Americans. All efforts should be made to make federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service available for harvesting. The enduring truth is that people best protect what they own. But that is not true at all. These lands, such as the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area that was granted protection by Republican President Gerald Ford 40 years ago and the Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness Area that was granted protection by President Ronald Reagan, could be opened up to loggers if the new GOP has their way.These pristine lands and many others across the country haven t been touched, which means people are already protecting these public lands by keeping them public.Allowing these wilderness areas to fall into private ownership would mean Americans would lose access to these lands. Any private corporation that buys up this land will just put up signs that say  No Trespassing  and would proceed to cut down all the trees and strip mine the mountains and lands. Companies like Nestle could easily suck up all the water it wants. It would take generations for the forests to grow back and the area would never be the same. It would be devastated by private industry.That is why it is so important to vote in November. Republicans literally want to take our heritage away from us. They are bowing down to the demands of domestic terrorists. We can t let that happen if we want future generations to enjoy the natural wonders that past generations fought so hard to protect.Featured Image of Lake Tenaya in Yosemite National Park via Wikimedia