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A Letter from Ken Paxton
Last week, I received a fund-raising letter from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. In the letter, Paxton repeatedly proclaimed his support for liberty. Yet, his track record belies this claim. For example, Paxton defended the Trump administration’s use of eminent domain to seize private land along the state’s southern border to build a wall. He…
Eminent Domain: Reform vs. Repeal
With the Texas legislature in session, calls for reform of existing laws regarding property rights resound across the state. One of the primary targets is eminent domain. While the state’s current eminent domain laws certainly violate property rights and work against land owners, reform is not the solution. Reform means “to put or change into…
Theft is Theft
Imagine for a moment, that a neighbor’s young daughter desperately needs surgery to save her life, but her family can’t afford the medical expenses. If her father broke into homes in the neighborhood and stole money to pay for the surgery, we would recognize his actions as theft. His tragic circumstances do not change the…
The Free Market vs. Property Rights?
Is is becoming common for those reporting on the proposed bullet train between Dallas and Houston to claim that it is a conflict between the free market and property rights. For example, the website KERA in north Texas states that the project is “creating heated conversation about the free market vs. private property rights.” Curbed.com…
Eminent Domain vs. Property Rights
Reforming the state’s eminent domain laws has attracted a lot of attention from Texas legislators and interest groups during this year’s legislative session. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion over what property rights are. For example, Billy Howe of the Texas Farm Bureau was recently quoted: The legislature gave them [entities with eminent…
The Evil of Accepting a “Necessary Evil”
Atascosa County Farm Bureau President Pete Pawelek has called for reform of Texas’s eminent domain laws. He claims that current law “favors for-profit companies, giving landowners few options in a fight for their property.” Pawelek went on to say, Eminent domain is a necessary evil, but it should always be used as a last resort….