Is There Any Such Thing As Legitimate Government Property? No.

—–Original Message—–
From: BS
Sent: Tue 12/27/2016 1:09 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Question about homesteading “government” property.

Dear Professor Block, I have a question. Recently, President Obama made part of Ft. Ord into a National monument and it got me wondering. As a person who put his labor into maintaining parts of this base, both buildings and property, do I have a legitimate claim as a homesteader of this property? In the case of our old barracks they eventually tore them down, but would I have had a claim? I painted the walls and buffed the floors and did other work on the buildings as well. I was there for the shutting down of ranges and cleared ranges of duds, at risk to life and limb! Now of course I was being paid for this work, but then again I was in a way under duress at the time as well. I wanted out and they had other ideas. (lol). I say that they have no legitimate claim on this property, but I do. I would also have been and am still willing to stake claim to the property and continue to work to maintain and improve this property. Best Regards, BS

Dear BS: I agree with you. There is no such thing as legitimate public property. Since you put in some labor into this project, I think you are one of the legitimate owners of it, not the government. However, I think it would be very dangerous for you to press your suit in this matter. I expect that the statist courts will have very different ideas on it.

Share

8:00 pm on December 27, 2016