George Will picks up on...

...George Bush's reference to the Homestead Act in his inaugural address and reports these facts:

More than 270 million acres -- 11 percent of today's America -- were put into private hands. These approximately 422,000 square miles are more than 2.5 times the size of California and almost as much land as the combined area of 19 of today's states. According to Mark Engler, superintendent of the National Park Service's Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Neb., 30 of today's 50 states had homesteads in them and there are up to 93 million descendants of homesteaders.

It's an interesting column by Will. Here's another paragraph:

It cannot be said of Bush, as was famously said of Martin Van Buren, that he rows toward his goal ``with muffled oars.'' Bush has said ``I don't do nuance,'' and his ``ownership society'' agenda -- from Social Security personal accounts to health savings accounts to tax cuts -- is explicitly explained as soulcraft. Its purpose is to combat the learned incompetence of persons who become comfortable with excessive dependence on and supervision by government. His agenda's aim is to continue, in the language of his inaugural address, ``preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society.''