Property Rights - The Strength of Forged Alliances

Having been in the property rights movement for over a decade now, I've seen it at both highs and lows. Largely, as most of you know, the movement has been in decline - having suffered setback after setback, 8 years of an antagonistic Democrat administration, attacks from the radical statist left, efforts by government to buy off and fracture portions of the movement - and cowardice from those we assumed were our closest allies.

The property rights issue is one of my greatest passions, as they are the root of individual liberty, and I have thought long and hard about what's happened to the movement and how folks might work together to strategize for the future - it's why I seized upon the eminent domain abuse issue, as I saw and still see it as a vehicle towards bringing people together.

Because that's what it's all about, in the end - bringing people together, folks from outside the usual interest groups, to build on common strengths and mutual concerns, and in that way bring resolution to our shared problems. You need allies, you need alliances, and you need to focus on the future.

With that in mind, it's my pleasure to tell you all about a new venture by my friends, colleagues, and allies at American's for Tax Reform. One of the things I've been thinking about for a long time is how to bring together the "real property" property rights folks ("real" as in "land", ie, 'real estate') and the intellectual property rights folks.

Only, and I'll freely admit this, I don't know much about the intricacies of their issues. I can tell you all about DeSoto and the role of land title protection in the creation of free and prosperous societies. I can go on for a long time about the perverse disincentives of statist-oriented species protection. And I can give you a solid graduate-level class on the history of eminent domain and how we got from there to here.

But other people do - Scott LaGanga at ATR is one of those people. So Scott and Grover have put together the Property Rights Alliance (http://www.propertyrightsalliance.org) to bring these two groups and their issues together. I endorse this wholeheartedly, and look forward to working with them. The Alliance, Scott says, "recognizes the necessity for a constant defense of physical and intellectual property from government's grips."

Indeed. The steady erosion of rights in real property, and the lack of a steadfast defense by those outside of real property circles, has lead to the current incursions against intellectual property. If kids aren't being taught to respect their neighbors' lands, then there is no reason to protect some stranger's ideas.

Best of luck, Scott. It's going to be a fun battle, and I'm glad we'll be working on it together.

- Andrew Langer