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The Enemies of Property Rights: Civil Asset Forfeiture
In 2014, Philadelphia police seized the home of Christos and Markela Sourovelis. Their son, who lived with them, had been arrested for selling forty dollars of drugs. The Sourovelises were kicked out of their home, the doors were screwed shut, and the utilities were cut off. Though they had done nothing wrong, they were homeless…
Pro-zoners Love Harvey
Before the flood waters in Houston had even stopped rising, calls for more land-use regulations to reduce flooding were being voiced. As one example, Bill Balleza on KPRC questioned the wisdom of allowing development near Addicks and Barker reservoirs. In the Chronicle, Bill King wrote, “We will need new, no tolerance development rules prohibit new…
Common Errors in Defending Property Rights, Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, we examined why the claim that a proposal will violate property rights often falls on deaf ears. In this post, we will examine a similar error in defending property rights. Often, when a proposal is made that will violate property rights, the victims state that they support the general…
The Principles of Property Rights
What is property? What are rights? What does the right to property mean? The answers to these questions are crucial. Our answers will determine our effectiveness in defending property rights. In this course, you will learn the source of property and the nature of rights. You will learn what the right to property entails, and…
Discrimination is a Property Right (and a Necessity)
A Washington state court recently struck down a Seattle ordinance that forced landlords to rent to the next tenant in line if that individual met the landlord’s minimum standards. In short, once the landlord set minimum standards, he could not discriminate on the basis of anything else. The Washington court ruled that this constituted a…
Civil Forfeiture: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
In October 2017, Anthonia Nwaorie was about to board a plane in Houston. The nurse was going to fly to Nigeria with medical equipment, supplies, and $41,000 in cash to open a medical clinic in her hometown. However, Customs and Border Protection officials had other plans for her. They detained her, subjected to hours of…