Property Rights Are Human Rights
A Review of Steven Greenhut’s Abuse of Power
by
John Seiler
by John Seiler
 Your
home and business are not safe. Government can grab them at any
time using anti-property redevelopment laws, paying you a pittance.
Government then can give your property to a private company to develop
as a mall or theme park.
That’s
the frightening story told in Abuse
of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain, Steven
Greenhut’s new book. LRC readers are familiar with his
writing on this site, some of it on eminent domain.
As
his colleague on The Orange County Register’s editorial
page, in his six years at the paper I’ve seen him diligently
cover this issue. His articles have saved the property of thousands
of homeowners and hundreds of businesses and churches. The total
value of property protected must be more than $100 million.
He
describes how, at a Garden Grove City Council meeting to try to
stop an eminent-domain grab of hundreds of homes to build a theme
park, citizens revolted. "This is the Little City of Horrors,
where they see only parcels," one outraged citizen said. "We
are the city. We have the right to live in our city and to move
when we choose to move. This is wrong. You might have the legal
right, but not the moral right. Leave us alone."
Greenhut
explains, "That’s a sentiment as old as America’s founding:
Leave us alone. City officials were unmoved. They droned on and
on about the city’s ‘fiscal deficiencies.’ The city manager talked
about the costs of running the city and the amount of dollars siphoned
from local government by the state."
As
Greenhut describes it, this was not a neighborhood resembling one
of the burned-out areas of Detroit, but a comfortable, middle-class
burg. In 2004, houses go for at least $500,000 – hardly a slum.
But
the city wanted to redevelop the land because a theme park would
have paid them mountains of dollars in sales taxes, whereas people
living happily in their homes pay much less in property tax.
The
neighbors won this one, with Greenhut’s help. The redevelopment
scheme was shelved.
Other
property owners, in other cities, weren’t so lucky, as with the
infamous Poletown demolition in Detroit, which helped make that
city less habitable than Najaf, Iraq in August 2004.
He
naturally has significant coverage of eminent-domain property grabs
in Orange County and California. But his book is national in scope,
covering property grabs in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, North
Carolina and other states.
His
reporting and analysis derive from a libertarian philosophy on property
rights: "Property rights get in the way of Other People’s Plans.
Governments are beholden to the political winds that happen to be
blowing. When the fad is to renew rundown urban neighborhoods, government
agencies craft plans to do that. When the fad is to create sales-tax-paying
retail centers to help city budgets, they do that, too. Whatever
the plan is, it’s far easier to use government police powers to
scrape away existing properties than it is to follow the rule of
law and the rules of the marketplace and negotiate with people in
good faith. Sure, it might be frustrating when a homeowner or small-business
owner gets in the way of a project that promises to revive an older
part of town. But that’s the price of freedom."
More
than just a description of assaults on private property, Abuse
of Power is a guidebook on how to challenge powerful governments
and big businesses. Chapter 18 is "Fighting Back and Winning."
It
includes chapters describing: "Build Broad Coalitions,"
"Go On the Offensive," "Be Positive, Not Just Reactive,"
"Don’t Lose Sight of Principles" and "Keep it Simple."
The
book ends with lists of organizations and Web sites to help wage
the fight and 417 footnotes.
Abuse
of Power is a manifesto for taking back the right to property
ownership. As Greenhut says, property rights are human rights.
Footnote:
For those in Southern California, Steven Greenhut will be signing
copies of his book on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at 7:30 pm at the Barnes
& Noble Bookstore, 791 S. Main Street, Orange, Calif. It’s across
Main street from MainPlace Mall.
August
18, 2004
John
Seiler [send him mail]
has been an editorial writer at The
Orange County Register for 17 years.
Copyright
© 2004 LewRockwell.com
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