Texas Central Partners has threatened many Texas landowners with seizure of their property through eminent domain to build a proposed bullet train between Houston and Dallas. I share your concerns about the use of eminent domain. It is, as many of you have stated, a violation of your property rights. The right to property means…
When an individual takes property without the owner’s consent, it is called theft. When a group of individuals does this, it is called organized crime. When the government does this, it is called eminent domain. The destruction of your property to build the border wall is an example of government hypocrisy at its worse. We…
The purported goal of land-use regulations, such as Austin’s CodeNext, is to plan the development within a community. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable goal. After all, we are often told that a business that fails to plan is a business that is planning to fail. But government isn’t a business. Governments and…
In the last post, we saw that Austin’s attempt to rewrite it’s land-use regulations (called CodeNext) has resulted in great controversy and divisiveness. That divisiveness is not the result of the process that was used, but instead, the cause was the principle that underlies CodeNext. By their very nature, land-use regulations are an attempt to…
Last Friday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that short-term rentals are not a commercial use of property. The case involved a home owner association that claimed short-term rentals were a commercial use and violated its deed restrictions (also called covenants). Patrick Sutton, the home owner’s lawyer, said, This is about as strong of a property…
In the last Texas legislative session, great controversy erupted over Austin’s attempts to reign in local governments. Bills were introduced to prohibit local controls over plastic bags, trees, short-term rentals, and more. Local governments claimed that these efforts by the state usurped their authority. A similar controversy has erupted in California. California State Senator Scott…
In “honor” of May Day, the socialist holiday celebrating the destruction of property rights, I offer Chapter 1 of Principles and Property Rights for free. Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people sharing all the world. John Lennon, “Imagine” We…
A lot of noise is being made about censorship on social media platforms such as Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter. Many are claiming that these companies are engaging in censorship when they remove or limit certain content. The truth is, no private company can engage in censorship. Censorship is a legal prohibition on the expression…
In 2015, Texas Central Partners announced that it had secured funding to move forward with a proposed high-speed railroad between Houston and Dallas. The project, which according to the company’s website will be funded by private investors, has attracted many opponents and generated great controversy, particularly among rural land owners along the proposed route. Opponents…