Free Republic

Property Rights is not just a Western problem Over the past few weeks, we have been inundated with heartrending stories concerning the theft of Property Rights by various government agencies manned by unelected bureaucrats foisting their policy regulations with no valid constitutional basis. I believe it fair to say most of us are not only concerned, but getting damned angry in finding just how pervasive the usurpative practices are becoming in even the smallest of communities. Back in the early Eighties, I bought a small agricultural holding with an old eight room house, a tri-level 20,000 sq.ft. post-and-beam barn, ...

A dispute about how tall the city of San Mateo, California, will allow buildings to be built may seem like a completely local problem that no one outside of San Mateo should care about. But the principle involved touches everyone from coast to coast, on issues having nothing to do with buildings, much less San Mateo. Like most liberal and affluent California communities, San Mateo has a severe restriction on how high you can build, supposedly to prevent the community from looking like Manhattan. How is there anything wrong with that? Let me count the ways. What is fundamentally wrong...

Florida is near the top of the list of states lining up to follow California into economic chaos. The contest to lead the green parade has ignored the rights of people, the principles of freedom and, often, plain old common sense. Here is a typical letter received this week: Building and Zoning has just charged me with failing to get building permits for a screen porch. I feel like my constitutional rights are being violated. They enforce building and zoning with denial of electric utilities until the owner meets their specs. I am in Florida, can you point me in...