Libertarians have long expressed disdain for intellectual property rights. As an example, Jeffrey A Tucker writes that “ownership is impossible as regards ideas, and no one has a right to profit as such.” Tucker is correct that nobody can own an idea. He is grossly wrong when he claims that no one has a right…
In the few months since St. Paul’s draconian rent control law went into effect, landlords, tenants, government officials, and housing activists have all expressed displeasure and confusion with the ordinance. The latest confusion revolves around the process to appeal for a rent increase greater than that allowed by law. And it illustrates the subjective nature…
California routinely provokes rational individuals to scratch their head in bewilderment. The latest example is SB1327, a gun law modeled after a Texas abortion law. The Texas law allows citizens to sue those who are involved in performing abortions. The California law allows citizens to sue gun manufacturers, gun shops, and anyone who transports an…
Attorney and housing activist Randy Shaw provides an interesting example of an unprincipled approach to housing policy. In a piece titled “Upzoning and Rent Control: A Perfect Match,” Shaw proposes giving property owners a tad more freedom at the same time government is tying their hands. Upzoning is the process of modifying a city’s zoning…
Sen. Ted Cruz has long been a critic of social media, claiming that they censor conservative content on their platforms. He has suggested using the anti-trust laws to stop companies like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube from operating their businesses as they choose. Forcing companies to allow content is the flip side of prohibiting them…
Sen. Ted Cruz is upset with the Muppets. Last year, when Big Bird announced that he had been vaccinated, Cruz responded by calling it “government propaganda.” More recently, when Elmo announced that he too had been vaccinated, Cruz tweeted, “You have Elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5. But you cite ZERO scientific evidence…
“Just cause eviction” laws (sometimes called “good cause eviction laws) are, according to housing advocate Shelter Force, “a legal framework that requires landlords to provide sufficient grounds for any attempt to remove a tenant from [sic] through eviction….” Currently, four states and more than twenty cities have just cause eviction laws. While the details vary,…
On May 1, St. Paul’s draconian rent control ordinance took effect. The law caps rent increases to 3 percent, though property owners can appeal to government officials for a higher increase. In June, Dominium, a local housing producer, notified tenants in one of its apartment buildings that rents would be increasing by 7.97 percent. Tenants…
Housing advocates argue that when tenants are facing eviction, they have an unfair disadvantage. They claim that landlords are represented by an attorney nearly 90 percent of the time, while tenants have legal representation only 10 percent of the time. Providing an attorney to those facing an eviction will “balance” this power. But there is…
In May, a federal appeals court upheld a Texas law that prohibits social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube from discriminating against users based on their ideas. In prohibiting such actions, Texas has declared war on free speech. Proponents of the law claim that social media companies are guilty of censorship when they block,…
The Progressive framework subordinates the individual—every individual—to the group. That framework is anti-individual and demands that the individual sacrifice his values and ambitions—his life—to the group. When the collective is the standard, what happens to the individual is regarded as irrelevant. When put into practice, this framework unleashes a power struggle as various groups compete…
A recent article in The Los Angeles Times reports that “affordable housing” projects in California are routinely costing more than $1 million per apartment to build. This outrageous price tag is caused by both state and local policies, and it illustrates one of the costs of democracy. Democracy means unlimited majority rule, that the majority…