Proposed monument bad for Las Cruces economy, bad for freedom

Las Cruces Sun-News opinion columnist Jim Harbison has penned an excellent column on the proposed Organ Mountains Monument designation made by Sens. Udall and Heinrich. As Harbison notes, “Their bill will put more than 498,000 acres of public land under the more stringent control of the federal government.” Harbison notes many of the economically-productive activities currently on those lands that will be outlawed and the fact that those activities vastly outweigh the supposed benefits which have been debunked elsewhere.

As the great left-liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith said, “Where socialized ownership of land is concerned, only the USSR and China can claim company with the United States.” New Mexico’s economy is already negatively-impacted by an out sized federal presence in terms of land ownership. We need to demand a shift away from centralized, socialized land ownership not allow well-heeled “environmental groups” put even more of our lands off-limits.