The Meaning of Property
The American dream started with these words: “…all men are created equal… they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and property… (The Declaration of Independence- first draft )
Our Founding Fathers understood that the protection of property is the most important responsibility designated to government. They wisely perceived that it is the right to use one’s property that overshadows all other considerations, because the term property embodies all we are and all we own, including life and liberty.
In fact, virtually everything in our lives necessitates the use of some form of property. A car has value because we can use it to take us where we want to go. A house has value because we can use it for shelter. A beautiful painting has value because we can take pleasure in using it for enjoyment.
Even an idea or a thought has value because we derive some benefit from using it. But in every case it is property’s potential use and what someone would be willing to pay to use it that gives it value. If the usage, or partial usage, of our property is taken from us, even if we still own it, then property has been stolen. To fully comprehend this, consider the greatest property theft of all, to take another’s life. When a murder is committed, the murderer takes from the victim everything he has, or ever would have had, because he steals from him the use of his allotted time on earth.
The framers of the Alabama 1901 Constitution also understood the paramount importance of property rights. In Section 35, under “Object of Government” our Constitution states: “That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property…” It further states: “and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression.” To date, I have not found one single state legislator who could correctly answer the simple question, “What is the purpose of government?” And yet, it is clearly stated in the quote above from the Alabama 1901 Constitution, which they all swore to defend and protect when they took their oath of office.
Under Feudalism, Fascism, Communism, Socialism, and Environmentalism, in fact under anything but freedom and individual ownership of property, a powerful few control all property and the many are at their mercy. The single most important factor in creating the greatness and prosperity of America is in our freedom to choose how we use our lives and our property.
Karl Marx wrote, “Communism can be summarized in one sentence: The abolition of private property”
"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: The stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission – which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.” -Ayn Rand.
Unless we wake up and defend our rights, our freedom and our property will surely slip away. But that is redundant is it not, since liberty and property are one and the same? Taking property is taking liberty.
Ken Freeman, Chairman ACR
Darkness Comes Again
"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: The stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission – which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”- Ayn Rand
Under any economic system, other than free ownership of private property, a powerful few individuals will ultimately control all property and the many will be at their mercy. Liberty and property are inseparable, because property provides the means of production and therefore leads to prosperity and wealth for he who controls it and poverty for he who does not. Fascism, Communism, Socialism, and Environmentalism are all forms of tyrannical control of property.
But property is much more than just land and buildings. We must understand that virtually everything in our lives necessitates the use of some form of property. A car has value because we can use it to take us where we want to go. A house has value because we can use it for shelter. A beautiful painting has value because we can take pleasure in using it for enjoyment; even an idea or a thought has value because we derive some benefit from using it. But in every case it is property’s potential use and what someone would be willing to pay to use it that gives it value. If the usage, or partial usage, of our property is taken from us, even if we still own it, then property has been stolen.
These days we don’t have to look far from home to find examples of governmental theft of property. Property owners in places like Alabaster, Cullman and Shelby County, all in Alabama, are under attack right now. For example, a government agency decides to take your land through eminent domain. It intends to develop the land as the agency sees fit, say as a shopping center through a Public/Private Partnership. The value of everything around this property will go up. All your neighbors will profit. The government will receive more tax revenue. But you are only offered present usage value, which is as timberland. Thus governmental force gives your land to private developers at well below its market value, which is in effect a subsidy to rich and influential business interests at your expense. This is nothing but thievery in the name of public good. Property has been stolen from you because government has taken your ability to sell it to the highest bidder based on its highest value. Is this just? No.
(See the slide show presentation at: http://takingliberty.us)
Governments often elude the constitutional requirement for just compensation by claiming that they have not taken property unless they have taken title to it. Suppose that a couple buys real estate as an investment. They intend to sell it upon retirement to provide money for their declining years. For thirty years they work and save to make their land payments, but just as they are ready to retire, the local government changes the zoning regulations and imposes development restrictions. Yesterday, the couple’s nest egg was worth fifteen thousand dollars an acre as house sites. Today, under the new restrictions, it is worth only five hundred dollars an acre as restricted farmland. They still have the deed to their property but all the interest they paid and thirty years of appreciation in value is gone with the wind. Figuring in inflation, their land is actually worth less than when they bought it thirty years ago. This is theft by regulation. Is this just?
Suppose you own a large lot in town. You plan on building on one half of your property and selling the other half. But the local zoning board passes an ordinance restricting individual property owners to the use of only fifty per cent of their land. The other fifty per cent of the land must be left wild as green space. You still own the property; you still pay taxes on the full acreage; you still must insure and maintain it; but one half of its use, and therefore, one half of its value has just been stolen from you at the whim of the zoning board, without any compensation. This is theft by zoning. Is this just?
All of the above examples have occurred and are continuing to occur in Alabama. Despite what leading politicians have been saying, the new eminent domain law does not protect you. Housing Authorities, Urban Renewal Authorities, Re-development Boards, Industrial Development Boards, Commissions and Zoning Boards and their like, which already have independent eminent domain authority, are exempted from this law and are still free to take property when and where they please.
We must pass a real Property Rights Amendment with the strength to protect our citizens and stop this thievery.
Unless we wake up and defend our rights, our freedom and our property will surely slip away. But that is redundant is it not, since liberty and property are one and the same? Taking property is taking liberty.
Ken Freeman, Chairman ACR