Palin big on state's rights in managing land

GOP vice presidential nominee-to-be, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is a major fighter for allowing states to manage the lands within their borders--state, private or federal. She even clashes with her boss on this issue, John McCain, who is a misguided environmentalist wannabe--and among other things, opposes drilling for oil in ANWR. Palin is a big-time proponent of ANWR drilling and exploration.

For agricultural and rural interests, this is vitally important for livestock grazing, water rights and fire management, among other things. No "one size fits all" policy formulated in Washington can possibly fit the diverse topography of the whole United States, with only the state and local government on the scene having enough knowledge and perspective to say what ought to be done with their local land mass.

Coming from the "big empty" of Alaska, the biggest state in the U.S. in land area, Palin knows first hand how incompetent the federall government is in handling local problems. Left to their own devices, Alaska has returned hundreds of millions of dollars to local citizens in profits from oil and minerals development--$1500 per capita in just the last year alone.

Not every state has this kind of natural resource bounty, but it does show what the local folks are capable of doing--particularly when you see the feds out-foxed repeatedly by oil, timber and mining companies on federal lands. Left to their own devices, the locals--who still have to live there after the drillers and miners are gone--have done an admirable job of balancing resource development with environmental preservation.

Unlike the Washington D.C. environmentalists, who just want to lock everything up and let us freeze in the dark, the locals have a sixth sense about preserving their land and still producing revenue and badly needed resources from it.

Sarah Palin understands this, and can bring a badly-needed new perspective to Washington--which has the liberals and environmentalists scared witless.