A recent article on Common Dreams, a news website serving the progressive community, claims that a lack of supply isn’t causing the housing crisis. The article claims that the United States has a surplus of housing—3.5 million more housing units than are needed. Further, a surplus exists in nearly every metropolitan area in the nation….
Chicago’s new mayor has sued automakers Kia and Hyundai, blaming them for a 243 percent increase in auto thefts over the past two years. The lawsuit claims that the companies manufactured cars that lacked “appropriate anti-theft measures.” In a stroke of brilliance that rivals Sheila Jackson-Lee, the mayor has determined that automobiles are the cause…
Property owners in Maui have suffered tremendously because of the recent wildfires. Now, Hawaii’s governor proposes adding insult to injury. He has directed the state attorney general to draft a moratorium on the sale of damaged properties in Lahaina. The stated goal is to protect property owners from being “victimized” by investors, i.e., protect owners…
A recent Supreme Court ruling asserting free speech rights is being condemned by the political Left. In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the Court ruled that the First Amendment protects the right of a website designer to refuse service to gay individuals. Progressives Regressives are arguing that the ruling opens the door for businesses to discriminate…
I began this series by referring to Ayn Rand’s claim that without property rights, no other rights are possible. I was initially skeptical of that claim, and that is what led to an intense study of philosophy, history, and economics. My goal was to determine if Rand’s claim was indeed true. It is. A few…
This post is the seventh in a series. While I have long understood the importance of property rights, my understanding has reached a much deeper level over the past decade. During that time, I have written nearly one-thousand blog posts, OpEd articles, and policy papers. I have written three books and conducted dozens of workshops…
This post is the sixth in a series. In the early 1990s, I wrote a paper titled “Government Without Taxation.” In the paper, I examined various ways to finance government without coercive taxation. At the time, I thought that this would be a good topic for a book and made several futile attempts to write…
This post is the fourth in a series. About twelve years after zoning was defeated in Houston, I was contacted by two businessmen in Hobbs, New Mexico. The city council was considering a zoning ordinance, and they wanted me to help defeat the proposal. They had found the pamphlet that my friend and I had…
This post is the second in a series. Before I could determine if Ayn Rand was correct in claiming that “without property rights, no other rights are possible,” I had to understand what property rights really means. Sure, I could recite the definition: “The right to property means the freedom to produce, use, and trade…
Nearly forty years ago I read Ayn Rand’s essay “Man’s Rights,” for the first time. I was new to Rand’s writing, and indeed free market thought in general. Rand’s claim that, “Without property rights, no other rights are possible,” struck me as a gross exaggeration. I became determined to discover whether that claim was true….
In my book, The Affordable Housing Crisis: Causes and Cures, I provide numerous examples of how racism has prevented non-whites from owning a house and building wealth. Zoning, occupational licensing, eminent domain, and numerous other government policies have often been founded on racism. All of these policies, and many more, are a violation of property…
The title—“Government attacks free will when it assaults property rights”–of an opinion piece by Andrew P. Napolitano was intriguing. Unfortunately, while the former judge presented two false alternatives of dictatorship, he said virtually nothing about free will and its relationship to property rights. I will correct that oversight. The right to property means the freedom…