You think "the government should sell all the land" until you live in a state like Texas where nearly all land has been privatized. There aren't big open natural spaces you can visit, even parks feel like they're part of a disney resort instead of the real deal.

I live in a state with a lot of federal land. Had the state been allowed to, it would have privatized and sold much of that land for clearcutting, sprawl and other "economically productive" uses that prioritize the near-term over the future. But they couldn't because the federal govt owned the land. Nature is easy to access and abundant. It's wonderful.

And I'm not just talking about big sprawling national parks and forests, but local and county level parks as well. Land use here has been quite restrictive and while housing costs a bit more a result, everybody I know and care about is 15 minutes or less from usable green space.

Ask any foreigner who visits the states and they will tell you how much they marvel at our national parks system. The government gets a lot wrong, keeping land which doesn't need to be used out of the hands of the market isn't one of those things. Markets solve some things efficiently, and other conditions lead to inevitable "market failures" including tragedy of the commons. If we let the market control all this land, it would be ruined for future generations.