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Solving Social Conflicts
Virtually every social conflict can be solved with a proper understanding of property rights. As an example, consider the frequent claims that a business has engaged in discriminatory practices. The right to property means the freedom to create, attain, use, keep, trade, and dispose of material values. It means that the owner of a parcel…
Cause and Effect
The city of Houston recently enacted stricter regulations governing boarding houses. The Houston Chronicle reported that: The ordinances — prompted by several fires in unregulated and unsafe multi-resident housing facilities over the last year — follow months of meetings between city officials and community groups and wrangling between city agencies. The purported goal of the…
Rights are not Subject to a Vote
Last November, voters in St. Paul approved the most stringent rent control law in the nation. This past week, a Minnesota Senator introduced a bill that would repeal that law and prohibit other municipalities from imposing rent control. This is an appropriate bill because rights, including property rights, are not subject to a vote. The…
Property Rights without Morality
Libertarians believe that individual liberty is compatible with virtually any moral code. However, politics is the application of morality into a social context. To separate the two is to place liberty on a foundation that cannot support freedom. In a piece titled, “Native Americans Had a Lot More Private Property Than You Think,” Daniella Bassi,…
Free Speech for Me, but not for Thee
Last Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that prohibits large social media companies from blocking content or removing users because of their political views. In a video posted on Facebook, Abbott said, “There is a dangerous movement by some social media companies to silence conservative ideas and values.” Apparently, conservative ideas and values…
How not to Defend Property Rights
Many libertarians and conservatives lament the constant violations of property rights. Sadly, they don’t realize that their attempts to defend property rights often do more harm than good. And that is because they often embrace the same premises as those attacking property rights. Consider a recent article by Brad Polumbo as an example. In the…