Maybe I dreamed this, but at one time I could have sworn that Rob Natelson wrote over at Electric City Weblog something to the effect of the words that follow:
public lands are poorly managed because if everyone owns them, no one does. …
I’ve been through his posts now back to the beginning of October, have used Google and my search feature, and I cannot find these words. Is anyone familiar with the concept? I think at the time he said it, Natelson was quoting someone – probably some right wing think tank guy.
Anyway, it’s one of those propositions they have over on the right, like “cutting taxes raises revenues” that is patently absurd yet accepted as gospel. The baseline assumption is that public lands are poorly managed, private lands well-managed.
Anyway, I’m willing to debate both the substance of the debate and the facts on the ground. First, I need to find the source of Natelson’s quote. Any helpers?
Piece of Mindful 
Don’t know the quote, but until sometime after the 2006 election Montana Republicans proudly advertised a plank in their party platform a goal of privatizing nearly all government assets and institutional functions. It has since been removed from their website. Privatization and deregulation are the twin towers of right-wing (neocon and neoliberal) dogma. Tax cuts, a “populist” subset, make more sense politically as a talking point.
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It sounds like PERC…Terry Anderson and Company.
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I can find where you refer to that phrase as a ‘Natelsonism’ (More Petty Tyranny, December 24th?) But I can’t find where Professor Bob originally dropped it into the conversation.
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I agree with Rob, they’re in need of some fixing. Good thing the stimulus bill has something like 45 million going to ATV trails.
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>>>”Libertarian environmentalists note that privately owned resources are typically well-maintained. In contrast, resources that are unowned or politically controlled are more apt to be inadequately and poorly managed.”<<<
"The Encyclopaedia of Libertarianism," p. 151 by Ronald Hamowy; who cites as his reference: "Free Market Environmentalism" by Terry Anderson and Donald Leal (PERC).
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