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When Political Ends Clash
Daniel Hertz, writing on CityLab.com, presents an interesting idea. The title of his article, “Housing Can’t Be Both Affordable and a Good Investment,” summarizes his position. And, while he makes a compelling argument, he misses the fundamental issue. Hertz acknowledges that the real estate lobby exerts political pressure to maintain laws, such as deductions for…
First in Time
Nightclubs can make for very poor neighbors. Loud noise, traffic, and drunken patrons can be disruptive to the residents of nearby homes. These types of nuisances are the basis for a controversy brewing in Abilene. A developer wants to build housing for low-income families near a nightclub. The club’s owner fears that the residents of…
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,…
Property Rights as Political Expediency
Writing in The Federalist, David Larsen makes a compelling case for eliminating single-family zoning. And he takes his fellow conservatives to task for opposing the Biden administration’s call to relax zoning laws: Are conservatives only against impositions on freedom and property rights from the federal government, while local governments should have absolute power over the…
Roadside Robbery
Civil asset forfeiture is a process by which law enforcement agencies can seize private property that they suspect has been obtained by or used in the commission of a crime. The property owner must then fight to regain his property. Unlike criminal cases, in civil asset forfeiture, the burden of proof is on the property…