Texas Defends States' Rights Once Again as Washington Tries to Take Texas Land

Almost every American state west of the Mississippi River has "public land." In some states, there's more land in the public domain - federally owned - than there is in private hands. In Arizona, for example, only about 10% of the state is privately owned and therefore taxable by the state. All the rest is owned by various American Indian tribes, as their reservations, or federally owned. In Texas, there is practically no "public land" outside state and national parks. Why? The answer is found in how Texas became a state. When the Republic of Texas joined the Union in 1845 as a sovereign nation, it kept title to all its unowned land. The federal government received nothing. This was very important to Texans. Because of the prior rule of Texas by Mexico, Texans had a fundamental mistrust of distant political powers. Out of the carnage of the Alamo, Texans forged a simple rule : Texas should always be in the hands of Texans. And it has remained so to this day - the only large tracts of federal land in Texas have either been bought (military bases) or donated (Big Bend National Park). The rest is in private hands. Unlike all other states west of the Mississippi, Texas owns all but 1.1 million acres of the 171 million acres within its borders. So, the federal government owns just 2% of the land in Texas, compared to the 86% of Nevada and the 64% of Utah federally owned, for example. ~~~~~ So, when Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sends a clear message to the federal Bureau of Land Management, which is in a dispute about land along the Oklahoma-Texas border, he can back it up with historical facts. Abbott has just issued this challenge to the BLM : "Come and take it." Abbott is referring to a potential land grab of 90,000 acres that belong to Texas landowners. The federal government is considering taking the land, which stretches 116 miles along the Red River. "I am about ready to go to the Red River and raise a 'Come and Take It' flag to tell the feds to stay out of Texas," says Abbott, who wrote a letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze about the matter, expressing his concerns about the government's interest in taking the land from Texans, who have owned it for decades, some for generations. "I am deeply concerned about the notion that the Bureau of Land Management believes the federal government has the authority to swoop in and take land that has been owned and cultivated by Texas landowners for generations. The BLM's newly asserted claims to land along the Red River threaten to upset long-settled private property rights and undermine fundamental principles - including the rule of law - that form the foundation of our democracy. Yet, the BLM has failed to disclose either its full intentions or the legal justification for its proposed actions. Decisions of this magnitude must not be made inside a bureaucratic black box." Abbott expanded on the subject in an interview with Breitbart : "What Barack Obama's BLM is doing is so out of bounds and so offensive that we should have quick and successful legal action if they dare attempt to tread on Texas land and take it from private property owners in this state," Abbott said. ~~~~~ What is the issue underlying the Texas-BLM dispute? It dates back to the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. The physical boundary between Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River can fluctuate, depending on the fluctuation of the riverbed itself. This has led to countless legal battles over the years between Oklahoma and Texas - so the federal government has now decided to settle the long-term dispute by seizing the land and "federalizing" it. According to Breitbart, the Texas Farm Bureau thinks the border moves south when the river shifts in that direction. But when the flow of water shifts to the north, the Texas Farm Bureau maintains that the border stays where it is supposed to be. The BLM has stepped in and wants to take over the land to settle the matter once and for all. "This is the latest line of attack by the Obama administration, where it seems like they have a complete disregard for the rule of law in this country," Abbott told Breitbart. "And now they've crossed the line quite literally by coming into the state of Texas and trying to claim Texas land as federal land. And, as the attorney general of Texas, I am not going to allow this." The Texas situation comes on the heels of the case between the BLM and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. The BLM says Bundy had been illegally grazing his cattle on 600,000 acres of federal land for 20 years. Bundy disagreed, saying the land belongs to the state. The BLM had started to seize Bundy's cattle, but ranchers and cowboys massed on the grazing land in support of Bundy's grazing rights and the BLM returned the cattle to Bundy ten days ago. ~~~~~ Texas Governor Rick Perry joined his attorney general on Wednesday in blasting the federal Bureau of Land Management over concerns that it may be looking at laying claim to thousands of acres of property in northern Texas. “The federal government already owns too much land,” Perry told Fox News. “It’s not a dare, it’s a promise that we’re going to stand up for private property rights in the state of Texas,” Perry said, calling the federal government “out of control.” The federal government is currently in a preliminary review phase, and any action on the land would be years away. The BLM argues that any land in question was long ago determined to be public property anyway. “The BLM is categorically not expanding Federal holdings along the Red River,” a BLM spokeswoman said in a written statement earlier this week. The spokeswoman referred to a 140-acre plot “determined to be public land in 1986” – an apparent reference to a 1986 federal court case. Texas landowner Tommy Henderson lost 140 acres to BLM in that case, and he claims the agency is now using that decision as precedent to pursue more property. Perry claimed private property would be affected here, and questioned the BLM’s position : “Is the federal government going to come back in and say, ‘you know what, Mexico used to own the state of Texas so let’s have a conversation of where the rightful ownership of this is’?” ~~~~~ Dear readers, never under-estimate the constitutional battle between American states and the federal government. US states are ever mindful that they hold all the constitutional powers not expressly delegated to the federal government. Often, those powers are traded in a shortsighted exchange for federal money. But, in Texas, states rights lives every day. And so, don't presume that the federal BLM will win in its Texas land grab. As every American youngster knows, "the Texas Rangers always get their man." In this case, Texas will undoubtedly keep its land. And, the Lone Star State will once again prove that it is America's best and most vigilant defense against the unwanted tentacles of Washington.