Transferring precious public lands to ruthless capitalism

The public's precious land

is under MAGA threat

Context

“In my book a pioneer is a man who turned all the grass upside down, strung bob-wire over the dust that was left, poisoned the water, cut down the trees, killed the Indian who owned the land, and called it progress. If I had my way, the land would be like God made it and none of you sons of bitches would be here at all.” 1920 speech by Charles M. Russell to the Montana Pioneers Association in Great Falls, MT

Most American public lands west of the 100th meridian to the east side of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges in California, Oregon and Washington. Nature writer Chris Ketcham described the public lands of the West as being about 450 million acres (~7,031,250 sq mi) of grassland, steppe, desert and forest. It is managed in trust for the American people by the Unites States Bureau of Land Management and Unites States Forest Service. They are grossly underfunded parts the National Park Service which is well funded but controls only about 50 million acres (~78,125 sq mi). In the public's West a person can hike, fish, hunt, raft, ride horseback, roam like the American Indian tribes, and “get lost, stay lost for as long as you wish”.

In the 1930s-1950's, American historian Bernard DeVoto wrote about the public lands of the American West and how they were being used. He called the West “a plundered province”. The West was a resource colony for corporations and absentee landlords that practiced a brutal “economy of liquidation”. He openly attacked the liquidators. He criticized the mining companies, the stockmen, the cattle barons, the oilmen, the clear cutters, and the profiteers of gold rushes, grass rushes and false dreams. DeVoto had a name for the ruthless bankers and congressmen who abetted and profited from the plundering. He called them the Western hogs.

The Western paradox: There always has been a paradox about the public lands of the West that the US government holds in trust for us. DeVoto’s western paradox is that the West loudly denounces “big government” while simultaneously depending on massive federal subsidies, water projects, and public‑lands giveaways to sustain an extractive, boom‑and‑bust economy. He described this aspect of the West as a mindset that imagines itself fiercely independent, but is in fact politically and economically dependent on the federal generosity and power it claims to resist. The paradox always was irrational. It was and still is based mostly on public deceit and ignorance.

MAGA's Western hog plans for the West

An article published in the Feb. 2026 issue of Scientific American, The true worth of America’s public lands, makes clear that the Western hogs mentality is still very much alive and very powerful in MAGAlandia today. The article is based on analysis of winners and losers from more federal land being sold off to private interests.

Extremist MAGA Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Houses Act (HA) would make hundreds of millions of acres of public land eligible for sale. The goal of the HA is cynically smoke screened as “solving” the housing crisis. Selling public lands under the proposed law will not noticeably reduce the cost of homes in the US. But that isn't the goal. Affordable housing is just MAGA's propaganda ploy. The law is marketed as pro–working class, but there are few affordability requirements, no guardrails on who can buy, and few constraints against speculation and luxury development.

The lands that Lee wants to make eligible for privatization are overwhelmingly remote and highly wildfire‑prone. There is very limited accessible low‑risk land. Most of the land is neither safe nor practical for typical residential working families. Clearly, mainstream housing is not MAGA's main goal. Homes built on the main parcels of public lands would mostly be too far from jobs, schools, services, and existing infrastructure. Costs for roads, water, sewer, and power, would necessitate toward high‑end, exurban, or resort‑style housing, not affordable homes for working families (other than the servants working for the rich folks).

As is the norm for MAGA propaganda about the environment, the public lands that HA proposes for sale are called barren wasteland. In reality they are functioning ecosystems that provide pollination, water purification, carbon storage, recreation, and biodiversity. Those benefits are worth billions of dollars annually. Most of that would be obliterated by large‑scale privatization and development. Once again, the Western paradox is clear -- MAGA politicians exploit housing affordability problems to revive long‑standing, unpopular ideas of selling off public lands.

How unpopular? Polling indicates that about 71% of Americans oppose selling existing public lands to private bidders. Majorities across parties and regions oppose the selling. If people polled were aware of the history and MAGA politics here, probably about 80% would oppose the sale of their precious land to Western hogs. 

Probably the single most potent weapon that authoritarian American MAGA politicians and propagandists use against the public is MAGA disinformation coupled with public ignorance. That is a real democracy killer.