A quick answer to the question "Why Does It Matter?" to liberate our lands (beyond the fact that it is our statehood birthright) is education equality and economic self-reliance.

 

With more than 50% of our lands locked up, western states struggle to fund education and are dangerously dependent (30-50% of their budgets) on federal funds that are unsustainable. And yet, western states have more recoverable oil (and other abundant natural resources) than "the rest the world's proven reserves combined," according to recent congressional testimony by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

 

 

In Quick Fact No. 1 we saw how the "western states" of 1828 solved remarkably similar issues by compelling the federal government to transfer their public lands as promised. Are you ready to find out more, learn what you can do, and take action today?

TAKE ACTION TODAY

"Water, Water Everywhere, And Not a Drop to Drink"

 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge illustrates the sad irony of being surrounded by abundant resources that cannot be utilized to provide and protect health, safety and welfare:

 

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

 

Western states have "resources, resources, everywhere" but "not a drop" to solve their serious education and fiscal funding gaps because the federal government has failed to honor the same promise it made and kept with all states east of Colorado to "extinguish title" to these states' public lands within a reasonable time of being admitted into the Union.

 

(CNSNews.com) - "The Green River Formation, a largely vacant area of mostly federal land that covers the territory where Colorado, Utah and Wyoming come together, contains about as much recoverable oil as all the rest the world's proven reserves combined, an auditor from the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Thursday."

 

Admitted as a state in 1896, Utah, for example, is dominated by federally controlled lands (about 65%) and is perpetually dead last in the nation in per pupil funding (below the national average by more than $2 billion annually) despite being in the top five in the percentage of its budget going to education. North Dakota became a state at roughly the same time (1889). Today, it has about 3% federally controlled lands, is utilizing its abundant resources to add billions of dollars into school buildings and classrooms, and is $3,700 above the national average in per pupil funding. The odd thing is that the federal government's promise to "extinguish title" to the public lands in these states is virtually identical. (Watch "A Tale of Two States")

 

Under current federal law, drastic cuts in federal funds that make up 30-50% of states' budgets are slated to begin on January 1, 2013. Even if Congress were to change this law, federal finances are so unsustainable that we "face the most predictable economic crises in history" (Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson) and a "increased possibility of a sudden fiscal crisis" (Ben Bernanke).

 

Just as in 1828 when the "western states" succeeded in compelling the federal government to transfer title to the public lands, "the true interests of the United States, as well as the interests of the [western] States, require a radical change in the system of disposing of the public land . . . to the extinguishment of the public debt . . . to increase the wealth and strength of the United States, and consequently the ability to bear the burdens of government in times of war or other public calamity-to augment the revenue of the United States . . . [because] the increase of the revenue of the States in which the public lands lie, are blessings and advantages which must arise from a change in the system of disposing of the public lands, and which are surely not to be treated lightly by a wise nation." (Read more here and here).

 

We have abundant resources to solve our education funding gaps and secure economic self-reliance for the western states, and the nation, if we have the desire, the knowledge of our history and our rights, and if we will band together and refuse to take "NO" for an answer.

 

 

First, please forward this information to everyone you know, post it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc., and encourage your friends to do the same.

 

Second, as a result of Utah and others in the west beginning to go on the offensive in securing local control of land access, land use, and land ownership, several counties, municipalities, organizations, businesses and individuals have recently come together to form the American Lands Council (ALC), www.americanlandscouncil.org. Click here to get involved in advancing the mission of ALC.

 

Third, money and manpower will make the difference! Please click the donate button (at the top of  this page) to support this critical initiative as we build "The 1828 Resolve" throughout the western states.