Property Rights? What Property Rights?

A fundamental aspect of freedom and liberty in America is property rights. By property rights, I mean that one has a fundamental right to purchase property and own that property in its entirety. If I own a piece of property, free and clear, then my sole ownership of that property permits me to do with it as I will, and I shouldn't have to answer to anyone else about it unless I am intruding on another's rights.

What kind of "property" am I talking about? Well, I could be talking about a car, or furniture, or a house and the land the house is on. Maybe just land, such as undeveloped land I might use to hunt on, or plant crops on, or graze cattle on. If I were talking about a car, and I didn't owe any money on it, meaning I hold the title to it, then can't I do what I please with that car? Wash it or leave it dirty, change the oil or not, get a tune up or not, it is my decision. If it needs a paint job, or a dented fender fixed, I can take care of it or not. However, if I want to actually drive it somewhere, then I have to have license plates, meaning the car is registered with the state. Some states require inspections, and most states require insurance.

What if I don't register the car, or I allow the registration to expire? Naturally the cops will stop me and give me a ticket. They might even take the car away to prevent me from driving it. This goes for inspections and insurance as well. I don't have to register the car, but I don't have to use it either. Basically, the fundamental purpose of a car, transportation, is controlled by the state. I pay for everything concerning the vehicle, but the state, in effect, has a controlling interest in it. If I can't use the car without the state's permission, do I really own it?

Both my parents and my in-laws have paid off their mortgages. Both couples have stated how glad they were to get that monthly payment off their backs, especially since the last few years of payments were practically all principle, thus there were no tax deductions for having their houses. Now they face a new financial issue. They still have to set money aside to pay property taxes every year, unless they want to get hit all at once at the end of the year for a huge bill from the state.

I pointed out to both sets of parents that they don't really own their houses. When they asked me how I figured that, my response was, "Simple. Don't pay your property taxes this year, and we'll see who really owns your home." Sure, my parents and in-laws are responsible for taking care of their houses, and paying any expenses associated with it, and have a deed that says they own their homes, but the state will swoop down like a hawk on a field mouse if they miss paying their property taxes and take those houses from them. In effect, the state allows these good folks to occupy these homes as long as they pay homage, via taxes, to the state. In a very real sense, the state owns all real property, for if you don't pay your taxes on that property, the state will take it away no matter how late in the game, or what title you may hold in your hand.

Taxes may be a necessary evil to finance certain functions that government should legitimately carry out, but to continually charge someone for property they have already paid for in full is outrageous. It is a never-ending punishment for wanting to have a place of your own. To me, this is the biggest violation of property rights that I see taking place today. But just like in the TV commercials selling some new product, I have to say, "but wait, there's more!"

There is a National Heritage Areas Act (HR2388) working its way through Congress right now. If this bill gets through, local land use will be transferred to federal control in exchange for federal grant money. In other words, the taxes the feds take from you will be given back to you if you promise to forfeit what property rights you have left. They want to steal our land with our money! One of the dirty secrets is that you won't even get a say in how that grant money is used. The feds will take your property rights, and in return they will tell you how to live. Oh, and they'll still be taxing you as much as ever. You won't really be getting anything back.

There would be no notification to landowners when their property comes within the boundaries of a "Heritage Area." This will be an area designated by a federal bureaucrat for "protection" from further use or development. If you think travesties happened with the wetlands land-grabs, that's nothing compared to what will happen now. If this bill gets through, the envirowackos will have a field day. To make matters even worse, the National Parks Service will run the "Heritage Area" program. You know, the people who can't manage forestland, thus creating the huge forest fires we get every year.

We stepped onto the slippery slope of anti-property rights long ago. It is only exciting now that we have gained speed and the scenery is racing by so fast that it begins to blur.

The new toast of the millenium should be:
May all your puddles be wetlands, may all your frogs have red legs, and do enjoy the little pixies of fairy shrimp dancing in the sparkling firelight of the nearest forest fire engendered by the watermelon crowd. We are the Brave New World.

"Whenever legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience."

- - John Locke, 1690

The Lockean natural-rights concept of property was assassinated a long time ago, and replaced under cover of darkness by the utilitarian concepts of Alfred Marshall and Wesley Newman Hohfield. Since the late Nineteenth Century, the dominant voices in property theory have all bowed, more or less explicitly, toward the God of Social Engineering.

Natural rights as such no longer receive any respect in law or in the parlance of the dominant social theorists. To suggest that a right differs from a State-granted permission by its absoluteness, or in any other way, is a red flag that invites ridicule and ostracism. The giveaway is that rights are always being "measured" against "compelling government interests," and when they clash, rights are always abridged.

Speaking of which, there's another cancer on the land: Where does the government get away with claiming interests? Government is a hired hand, not a principal; that's the foundation of constitutionalism, inherent in the delegation of powers from the citizenry. Only principals can have interests, because only principals can have rights -- but there's that nasty word again. Fifteen lashes with a wet noodle!

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

Of all the issues ever discusssed on FR this is the central one.

If we could own our land in Fee Simple, and dispose of it only upon our desire to harvest cash from it, rather than being kicked off the land by the taxing authority if we do not continue land rent payments (real estate taxes), then our society would resolve itself into a truely noble work.

Our lands would ebb and flow according to the fortunes of the people based upon their characters. People would not be forced onto the treadmill by the requirement to pay for their place in the sun, and would find their own best employment rather than being forced into the "system" to work in what amounts today to "indentured servitude" to the state. So long as the money from a paycheck flows first to the state before reaching the hand of the worker, there remains a state of slavery in our country. We are no longer "at choice" with respect to paying tax. It is "extracted" by force and or the threat of force.

As it stands now, we are all of us under the thumb. It all changed in the early 1900's when the people had finally become too stupid and too lazy to defend their birthright. The situation was compounded by outright treason among our Government representatives. We persist in that same condition of ignorance and loss today.

Property reform is an issue which has caused the bullets to fly in the past. It is not likely to be "up" until the people are hurting so bad that ANYTHING is better. We are a very long way from that point now.

We are a very long way from that point now.

Sadly, I have to concur. Scanning the horizon I see few who truely understand, and would be willing to fight, to reclaim their birthright. Daily I speak with people who are not even aware there is a problem, let alone what the problem is. This, I feel, is due to immigration, both legal and illegal, but mostly illegal, of those who do not understand, nor make the effort to understand, what America stands for. They seek only the profits of her freedom, not the investment for it.

Boonie Rat

MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66

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