Charles, you failed to understand Hickel's revelation and what it really meant. Wally had been told by members of Congress and the President of the United States that Alaskans would not be permitted to own our mineral wealth. We could choose to hold it in common as a state, but under no circumstances would we be allowed to own our subsurface mineral resources as individuals. We therefore were required to write our constitution in a way that forever impoverished the people of Alaska at the benefit of the government. That was a mandate from Congress. We'd been turned down for statehood only a few years prior because we had failed to understand what would be required of us.

Alaska has never been able to grow a private economy in large part because the land does not really belong to individuals. We will be forever dependent on government handouts until we correct that stupidity. Boom-bust cycles and periods of impoverishment will be our lot until we take back our private property rights.