A land is not public anymore if the State owns it. Even though the State claims to be a "public" institution, owned by everyone, it is not, it is a separate organization that works with certain bizarre democratic rules, but still a separate organization, much like a "public" company.
When you say "as the people" it seems to imply that "we" ought to have some general agreement between all residents of this arbitrary territory limits known as the US.
When I was much younger I was appalled by this and tried to refuse to accept this, but that's how it is. Otherwise as soon as things get hard everything falls apart. It also helps us beat the tragedy of the commons and make collective decisions more effectively. It's not ideal and there is lots of room for improvement, but there general approach works works pretty well and is at the heart of every society I know of. Sometimes it's more explicit than at others.
Yes, we should. It's odd in this day that I can't tell if you're a radical liberal NWO kind of person, or a college libertarian feeling out the philosophy of border ethics.
Sound good?