Let’s think about this for a minute. What land does the Federal Government truly own? I’ll concede Federal Buildings, and the land beneath military bases; but that’s it. Otherwise the land truly belongs to the States...and not the Federal Government.
While I’ll give Trump an A+ for thinking outside the box, I’m not a fan of the Feds thinking they “own” anything, because they should actually own very little.
The first solution needs to be analyzing the role of the Federal Government and getting rid of all the unnecessary crap (departments, office of this, secretaries to secretaries, government programs, etc).
Wherever possible, move things back to the States.
‘Wherever possible, move things back to the States.’
Sorry, but the days of Taft are over.
We are post-Teddy R.
And at least this firesale would return land to the free market. That stimulates the economy, brings investors, improves our bonds’ credit ratings, etc.
However, I would not mind a percentage of federal park land going back to the states.
“What land does the Federal Government truly own? I’ll concede Federal Buildings, and the land beneath military bases; but that’s it. Otherwise the land truly belongs to the States...and not the Federal Government.”
With the exception of the original thirteen states ALL the rest was obtained by the federal government which also CREATED the states. Land was either purchased with federal funds, conquered by federal forces or granted by some of the original 13.
Your statement is incorrect since the 37 states had NOTHING often not even a name. Unless the federal government granted land to a state when it was established, it had nothing after incorporation but a name. Possible exceptions would be private gifts of land or land purchased from tribes acknowledged by the fedgov to be theirs but that would have been rare.
Federal “ownership” is merely ownership as trustee for the People. It effectiveness can be rightfully questioned but not the fact that it is charged with being a trustee.