This was originally posted on Live Oaks on April 15 and April 16, 2009. Comments have not been migrated.
Since announcing my virtual candidacy for mayor of Houston, I have patiently waited for the media to interview me on the issues facing the city. Since that is not occurring, I will take it upon myself to conduct such an interview.
You are conducting a virtual campaign, and have indicated that you are not a serious candidate. Why take that approach, rather than an actual campaign?
There are several reasons. The most significant is that I really don’t want to be mayor. However, I would like to see a candidate who actually defended individual rights. Since there doesn’t seem to be one emerging, I thought that I would try to inject those ideas into the debate and show Houstonians that there is an alternative to the ideas we keep hearing. If you look at the current candidates, it is almost impossible to differentiate between them. Their individual focus is slightly different, but all see government as the solution to whatever ills face the city, real and imagined.
What do you see as the most serious issue facing Houston today?
In the broadest sense, the growth of city government. The city is gradually legislating more areas of our lives and expanding its control over the economy and businesses. As an example, the current mayor has declared war on sexually-oriented businesses and closed one last winter, along with a “hot-sheet” hotel last week. Last year, city council banned “attention-getting devices” and mandated tags on taco trucks. These are not proper activities for government. And it is hypocritical for government officials to talk about growing our economy while they are shutting down legitimate businesses.
Let’s talk about sexually-oriented businesses for a moment. You sound like you are very anti-government and would prefer to just let people do whatever they want. Shouldn’t citizens have some recourse if a strip club moves in down the street?
First, I don’t accept your premise. I have never said that citizens should be allowed to do whatever they feel like doing. I am not a Libertarian. Government has a legitimate function–the protection of individual rights. Each individual has a moral right to act according to his own judgment, so long as he respects the mutual rights of others.
In the case of strip clubs, the solution isn’t as clear cut as Mayor White pretends that it is. Such businesses have a right to exist. However, they do not have a right to be a nuisance to their neighbors. A property owner has the right to enjoy his property. If a neighbor makes loud noises at night, or attracts excessive traffic to a residential area, his rights have been violated. Such actions are legitimately dealt with through nuisance laws.
Mayor White has used nuisance laws to shut down the Penthouse Club and the motel.
Yes, but that isn’t the mayor’s proper function. These are civil matters, and those whose rights have been violated should be filing suit, not the city.
But the average citizen can’t afford to take on large corporations. They need the government to protect them and their rights.
I don’t think that citizens are as helpless as you seem to. There are other alternatives besides running to government every time we don’t like something. As one example, civic groups can pool resources. It is becoming increasingly popular to run to government every time someone gets a splinter. Too many people are looking for government to make their life pain free. And I hate to be the one to bring them bad news, but that can’t happen. The more we attempt to use government to take the pain out of life, the more we give up our ability to achieve happiness. The simple fact is, expanding the role of government means shrinking individual freedom. And freedom is a necessary condition for individual prosperity and happiness.
You have proposed selling parks and libraries, and privatizing water and trash collection. Aren’t these proper functions of government? Private businesses can’t supply these services, and if they could, they would have a monopoly.
No, these are not proper functions of government. Government’s only proper function is the protection of individual rights. In providing these services, government must necessarily violate the rights of some individuals for the benefit of others. Government must prohibit competition in order to provide many of these services, and thereby obtains it customers by force. If citizens want libraries and parks, they should be willing to pay for them voluntarily. We do that with our food, internet service, and countless other services. And we have an abundance of alternatives and options. And if we don’t want internet service, we don’t pay for it. But we all pay for the libraries and parks, whether we use them or not.
What if a developer purchases all of the parks and builds condos?
That isn’t likely to occur. In many cases, it simply wouldn’t make economic sense. But we would take safeguards to prevent such an occurrence. For example, we would offer the neighborhood parks to the home owners in that neighborhood. They are the primary beneficiaries of those parks, and they would have a vested interest in keeping the parks. We would use deed restrictions to limit the use of the land for a period of time, and when the deed restrictions lapse, the owners would have the choice of renewing the deed restrictions or changing the use of the land.
It would be a gross injustice to sell such parks to developers with no deed restrictions. Many home owners purchase a home because of a nearby park. To suddenly take that away from them would be unjust.
But most home owners couldn’t afford to buy a park and then maintain it.
Again, civic groups could pool money. Besides, they are paying for the park now through their tax dollars. As we sell parks we would also be cutting taxes. And, while we would ideally like to get market value for the parks, we might consider selling them for a nominal amount simply to relieve the city of the expense.
You’ve called for dramatic tax cuts. How do you plan to balance the budget if you are cutting revenues by 10% or more?
Actually, I’d like to cut revenues by much more than 10% because I intend to cut spending by much more than that. The city is currently engaged in many activities that are improper for government. By privatizing those services and selling the associated assets, the city would save hundreds of millions of dollars, and raise substantial sums at the same time. For example, we could save $60 million by eliminating building inspections and similar functions. Nearly $5 million can be cut from the city budget by eliminating sign administration. We can cut $10 million from the city budget by eliminating the Mobility Response Team. Nearly $9 million can be saved by eliminating the Planning and Development Department. There are a lot of other areas where the budget can be cut–this is just a start.
You are talking about getting rid of virtually everything the city is doing. What will be left?
Ultimately just the police and the courts. Those are the only proper functions for a local government. Everything else should be provided by the private sector, if the citizens want it. But it would take many years to get to that point. It would not be practical or moral to simply yank the rug out from everyone and shut down illegitimate government services. The private sector wouldn’t be in a position to offer alternatives.
You have mentioned morality several times. Yet you seem to be advocating selfishness and greed, which many claim is what got us in our current economic crisis. Care to comment?
Such characterizations are a gross misrepresentation of the facts. Both the housing industry and the financial industry–two industries getting much of the blame for this mess–are also among the most heavily regulated. It is intellectually dishonest to say that the free market failed when we didn’t have a free market. It was government intervention that failed. In contrast, Houston has shown a greater respect for property rights than other cities. Houston hasn’t enacted zoning for example, which allows property owners to use their land as they deem best. The result has been lower housing costs, a growing job market, and a higher standard of living than other cities. In other words, Houston is a refutation of that argument. Morally, each individual has a right to his own life, liberty, property, and pursuit of happiness. This was the founding principle of America and it led to our economic prosperity. To a large extent, it has remained a guiding principle in Houston, with similar consequences.
Would you endorse any of the actual candidates running for mayor?
Not unless they dramatically change their positions. For the most part, they are offering nothing new and there is very little to distinguish one candidate from another. They disagree on some minor details, such as how much we should expand light rail. But all of them agree that we need more government control over the lives of citizens. They just disagree on what they want to control.
But the candidates are simply endorsing positions that Houstonians want. Isn’t that the democratic way?
America was not founded as a democracy. Democracy means majority rule—that the majority may do as it pleases simply because it is the majority. In theory and in practice this means that there are no restrictions on what the majority may do, including violating the rights of the minority. And the individual is the smallest minority.
Government’s purpose is the protection of individual rights, not implementing the “will of the people”. The Founders understood this, and repeatedly warned of the passions of the mob. Might does not make right.
While all of this sounds good in theory, do you really think that it could work in real life?
I think the first part of your question answers the second part. How do we determine if something is good in theory? If something is good in theory, it is because it works in practice. More importantly, we must identify what we want in practice.
If we want economic prosperity and individual happiness, then the only way to achieve that is through individual freedom—the right of each individual to pursue his own values. Government can’t make us happy, and if you believe otherwise then I suggest that you simply look at the misery, destruction, and death that has occurred everywhere that that premise has been put into action.
Houstonians are facing a crucial choice in the coming years. We can continue down the path that we have been traveling—slowly eroding individual rights. Or we can reverse this trend and protect those rights more consistently than we have been doing. The choice that is made will ultimately determine if Houston continues to prosper, or will become just like the dying cities of the northeast and California.