Henry George wrote "Progress and Poverty" in 1879 and he pointed out that the public lands, and the water than runs over them, and under them, are our common wealth, and those who use our natural resources should pay rent, rather than workers being taxed on their productivity to benefit the same profiteers.

Cattle grazing is killing the West, and the production of more meat is killing the world. George's ideas will never take hold in an economic system in which a few profit immensely from our common wealth without being required to pay the owners of that wealth a single dime.