Call Your Senators: Say NO to public land sales
250 million public acres are on the auction block
Hey there Machinists
A little off topic here — today I won’t be musing on Metallica or cogitating on autistic super-powers. Instead, I’d like to bend your ear about a thing that is near and dear to me and is being voted on this coming Thursday in the U.S. Senate.
That’s this “One Big Beautiful Bill” you’ve probably been hearing about a lot. There are a *lot* of things wrong with this bill; I won’t go into all the ways that it’s flawed — I myself am only just catching up on all the garbage that’s packed into this thing. Suffice it to say, there is reporting that it will balloon the federal deficit, severely curtail Americans’ access to health care (including people with disabilities like my son, Hank), and only compound the scourge of wealth disparity that is seriously hobbling this country. It will also introduce the most regressive tax restructuring in decades.
On top of all this, the bill intends to pay for its massive tax cuts for the very wealthiest of Americans by selling public lands.
250 million acres of public lands, to be precise.
In a society where everything is careening toward privatization, the very idea of public lands seems like a miracle. These are local recreational areas, wilderness areas, designated roadless areas, wildlife habitat and migration corridors. These are the places where Americans can hike, camp, fish, and hunt, places that are designated for ecological study and rehabilitation — and provide needed protection for wildlife. Public lands have been important to me my entire life; I think we all tend to sometimes take them for granted. The idea that these areas could be sold to the highest bidder for private use or material gain is something we should all oppose, regardless of our political stripe.
So I’m asking you: please call your U.S. Senator (that’s who’ll be voting on the bill on Thursday) and let them know you adamantly oppose the selling of public lands to pay for billionaires’ tax breaks. You can find your Senator’s contact info here: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
Even if your Senators, like mine, are dogged defenders of public land (thank you Sens Merkley and Wyden!), you should voice your opinion and support nonetheless. If you happen to live in a state with Republican reps: GIVE EM HELL. Let them know you won’t stand for this.
Thank you!
I’m happy to add to the phone and email harassment of Sens. Daines and Sheehy of Montana, but my gut says they will continue to be cozy with whatever inches us closer to a totalitarian hellscape that caters to their millions.
It’s depressing. Technically both fuckwits are my neighbors (though of course I live far from their homes), and can literally see the vast beauty of public lands surrounding us.
But both would love to charge rent on the air we breathe.
Thank you for spreading the word about this! I work for a small land trust and in modern times land conservation projects take years, sometimes generations, to come to fruition. Once this land is sold, there's no going back. Please please call your senators!