The Tyranny of Our Neighbors

Vanity | 4-24-02 | Self

[Protagoras]

This little story serves to remind us how far we have skidded and how our own neighbors are willing to use force to have us comply with their view of the correct usage of our lives and property. But then again, I guess it really isn't our property anymore is it?

[Alberta's Child]

It never was "your" property. The moment you connect "your" property to a public road, public utilities, etc., you have no reason to expect to be treated like a private property owner.

[AnnaZ]

BUMPTTT!

[Joe Bonforte]

Anti-Microsoft folks talk about the arrogance of Bill Gates. It's nothing compared to the arrogance of the petty bureaucrat. Bill's done some shady deals, but he never threatened anyone with jail time if they did not buy his product, no matter how much he thought they needed it. The petty bureaucrat has no such limitation.

[Protagoras]

I wonder if there is such a thing as private property. Can you explain it to me?

[Protagoras]

The petty bureaucrat has no such limitation.

And in a time when we focus so much on the tyranny of the distant federal government, we sometimes forget just how bad our very own neighbors treat us.

[sauropod]

I have sat on a local Community Association board. I made the decision to do so in light of the fascist leanings of the board. (talk about the fox in the henhouse...).

Some people go nuts with a little power. All reasonableness and commonsense go out the door.

Deus Vult! 'Pod

[Alberta's Child]

Sure -- it's a piece of land that allows you to sustain yourself and your family without relying on the government for any of your needs other than the most basic ones described in the Constitution (currency, protection from foreign invaders, regulation of interstate commerce, etc.). There are still places like this in the U.S., mostly west of the Mississippi River.

[Post Toasties]

Can you apply for a variance? Shouldn't be necessary for a simple fence, but.....

Don't think anybody will do anything to you if you simply put a fence up.

I live on acreage near Chicago also in an area which is supposed to be a homeland for an endangered species (the emerald dragonfly which stopped the I355 tollway extension for years). I went through two years of obtaining approvals for this and that, and I'm sure I could have been denied at almost any stage if someone on the county or township board had desired. I suspect that, in the end, that I got my zero frontage variance and special use permit to cross a floodplain to erect a dwelling approved because the powers that be figured I was a better bet as a resident than a potential tire retreader or emu farmer.

[Lorenb420]

It never was "your" property. The moment you connect "your" property to a public road, public utilities, etc., you have no reason to expect to be treated like a private property owner.

The US Consitution says otherwise.

On the other hand, if you are in Canada, then yeah, there are no guarenteed property rights in the Constitution, and your point stands.

[BlueLancer]

"I wonder if there is such a thing as private property."

Well, I bought a six-room (2 bedroom/2 full bath) house in 1983 and, since that time my wife and I have added .. and constructed by ourselves .. four rooms, a full enclosed patio, and an enclosed back porch without even so much as a by-your-leave to the county before I did so. I have one more 20x20 room to build and then we're finished with that.

My acre-and-a-half property is full fenced with a six-foot mesh-and-barbed-wire fence, backed by a hedge of 10-ft cedar trees hidden in which is a twin-roll of concertina wire (policed up from the maneuver range here at Fort Hood).

The only thing anyone from the county ever said was when the Sheriff stopped as he was driving by when we were putting the concertina wire over the 2-ft cedar seedlings. He looked at the perimeter of concertina and the barbed wire fence and simply asked my wife is she was expecting the Normandy invasion. Then he laughed and drove off.

I guess private property means something different than it does here in Texas.

[Alberta's Child]

The US Consitution says otherwise.

Does it really? Do you have a reference for that?

[headsonpikes]

"Some people go nuts with a little power."

All but a few people go nuts with a little power. That's the problem with 'democratic socialism'.

[dheretic]

No, Bill Gates just happens to be trying to convince the public through propaganda that anyone that uses the GPL is either a Communist or anti-American. Too bad his entire business could not exist without government intervention. Without copyright law he'd have no business. He has a vested interest in keeping copyright law as much on his side as possible. He therefore doesn't have the capability of having a generally libertarian view of society.

[AUgrad]

that is was to ensure that the posts were sunk 42" deep and set in concrete

I've built a few fences in my time and that is a bit of overkill. If the post is 42" deep ,concrete is definitely optional. We've contained 3500lb pissed off beefmaster bulls with less(of course the posts were old railroad ties, but they weren't set in concrete)

[Lorenb420]

Does it really? Do you have a reference for that?

As I recall, you have the right to be secure in your persons, houses, papers, and effects ( Amendment IV ).

In Amendment V, it specifically mentions 'private property' shall not be taken without due process and it won't be taken for public use without just compensation

Clearly the founding fathers believed in the concept of private property.

The only reason things are like they are today, is because we let them get like this.

If everyone in that suburb of Chicago decided to build their fences however they wanted, what would the mighty Government do? Send in the BATF to burn the whole community down? They would do nothing, and they would like it.

[moyden]

The liberal is a thug.

[shattered]

Maybe so, but when the city was fixing to dig a ditch across my front yard I told them I was moving my car there to block the backhoe. Just until I could talk to the upper city management about the problem. The supervisor told me he would call the cops and throw me in jail if I did that (pull my car onto my private property). If I wouldn't have had children at home I would have done it anyway..bottom line they did what they wanted to my yard.

[shattered]

Forgot to add, I'm in Texas also...Our city runs over our property rights all the time.

[Alberta's Child]

If what you've said is true, then most zoning laws would be unconstitutional. I'd be interested to see if anyone can find a Supreme Court case that specifically differentiates between "reasonable" and "unreasonable" zoning laws in constitutional terms.

My understanding is that when you purchase property within a municipal boundary you are implicitly agreeing to abide by all of that jurisdiction's laws related to property ownership. If someone doesn't like the laws as they pertain to his own property, then he can either try to change them or move somewhere else.