Issue Environment
THE ISSUE: Most environmental problems - air and water pollution, land erosion, ground water depletion - are due to the lack of private property rights in the air and water and public ownership of much of the land in the United States. The federal and state governments have seized almost all of the land in the State of Arizona for the purpose of protecting this land; and yet the greatest amount of resource depletion has occurred under the supervision of government.
THE PRINCIPLE: Private property ownership is the best means of land stewardship. A private property owner is the most likely to actively preserve the long-term value of his own property, including preservation, preventing and cleaning up pollution, maintaining the natural beauty, and retaining habitats. Government ownership is always accompanied by short-sighted and wrong-headed solutions which fail to uphold the values most prized by individuals.
LIBERTARIAN SOLUTIONS: All government-owned land should be sold, and the proceeds should be used to settle outstanding government bonds and other debts, with the balance returned to the citizens within the jurisdictional boundary of that government. We oppose Arizona game laws which arbitrarily restrict or prohibit hunting of birds or wildlife on private property with the permission of the owner. We oppose the creation of any new government parks or government operated public recreation areas. We call for the sale of all existing government parks and recreation areas, with the proceeds to go to the taxpayers.
LIBERTARIAN ACTION/TRANSITION: We call for the development and implementation of private property rights of existing public lands. Such rights are to be awarded initially on the basis of home steading; i.e., those who now are benefiting from the use of the property should be the owners until and unless they choose to transfer the property. Efforts should be made to secure bids by people or groups who will maintain their current functions, but no such requirement should be made for sale.
