Says Egan in this wonderfully written essay: This ticket to roam free in the American backyard is no constitutional guarantee. The great, unfenced public domain, much of it forested or hidebound in sage and mesquite, is the envy of the rest of the world only because a few visionary souls bucked the powers of their day.
But now the powers of this day are trying to tear away at that inheritance. The election could determine whether big sections of our shared setting continue to be held by the general public. A radical plan to overhaul a century of sensible balance has been embraced by the Republican presidential ticket".... "It takes a truly small-minded politician, or one so ignorant of the nation's rich public land history, to upset the balance. This year, that politician is Mitt Romney....""I don't know what the purpose is" of all this federal land in the West." Romney said recently. |