Good Luck at the Government's Yard Sale

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas and Tea Party favorite, wants to unload federal land by turning it over to the states or selling it to private buyers. To Cruz, this is one way to scale back the reach of the federal government into the lives of private citizens.

It's also an idea that should appeal to those who view the federal bureaucracy as either incompetent, out of touch or illegitimate -- or all of the above. What's puzzling is that many of the potential supporters of the Cruz plan -- ranchers, miners, loggers and others in natural-resources industries -- are among the biggest beneficiaries of using federal land at below-market costs. It's like the man who demanded that the government keep its hands off his Medicare benefits. In other words, Cruz's plan might make them worse off.

Specifically, Cruz has sponsored an amendment to conservation legislation that would limit federal land ownership to no more than 50 percent in any state. (Of course, since this Congress can get almost nothing done, the bill probably is going nowhere this year.) The chart below shows the states with the highest percentages of federal ownership: