Resource Use
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Status Quo Option: Keep the Existing Plank. For all platform categories
we have the option of doing nothing; that is accepting what the LP already
has.
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The LP Platform Currently Reads
The Issue: We oppose government control
of resource use through eminent domain, zoning laws, building codes, rent
control, regional planning, urban renewal, or purchase of development rights
with tax money. Such regulations and programs violate property rights, discriminate
against minorities, create housing shortages, and tend to cause higher rents.
All government restrictions upon private use or voluntary transfer of water
rights or similar despotic controls can only aggravate the misallocation
of water. Forced surface-mining of privately homesteaded lands, in which
the government has reserved surface mining rights for itself, is a violation
of the rights of the present landholders.
The Principle: Resource management is properly
the responsibility and right of the legitimate owners of land, water and
other natural resources. We recognize the legitimacy of resource planning
by means of private, voluntary covenants.
Solutions: We advocate the establishment
of an efficient and just system of private water rights applied to all bodies
of water, surface and underground. Such a system should be built upon a doctrine
of first claim and use. The allocation of water should be governed by unrestricted
competition and unregulated prices. We also advocate the privatization of
government and quasi-government water supply systems. Only the complete separation
of water and the State will prevent future water crises. We call for the
homesteading or other just transfer to private ownership of federally held
lands.
Transitional Action: The construction of
government dams and other water projects should cease, and existing government
water projects should be transferred to private ownership. We favor the abolition
of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers' civilian functions.
We also favor the abolition of all local water districts and their power
to tax. We oppose any use of executive orders invoking the Antiquities Act
to set aside public lands. We call for the abolition of the Bureau of Land
Management and the U.S. Forest Service. We oppose creation of new government
parks or wilderness and recreation areas. Such parks and areas that already
exist should be transferred to non-government ownership. Pending such just
transfer, their operating costs should be borne by their users rather than
by taxpayers.
[If you think the current LP position on this subject is acceptable, then
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6 Comments (This is also the place for general comments about this plank
vs. comments about particular proposals.)
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