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An Old Man, Religious Outreach by Politicians, and Playing the Race Card

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

1.       An Old Man – Because I publicly defend private property rights, I sometimes hear from people whose rights have been violated.  Last week, I received a phone call from an 88-year-old man who has lived and worked in the Louisville area all his life.  About twenty-five years ago, he gathered together his savings and bought a tract of farm land.  Last year, he entered into a contract to sell the land to a developer who was planning to build houses on it.  However, the zoning folks refused to rezone the land to “residential”.  As a result, the sales contract is void, and the land is now worth only a small fraction of the contract price.  In effect, the decision of the zoning folks has cost this old man about a million dollars.  However, as he pointed out to me, he still gets to pay the taxes! 

          I offered to help publicize his situation, but, at his age, he does not want to become involved in any controversy.  (Many of the people who have called me over the years are afraid to be named publicly, because they are afraid of the power the government has over them.)  As I listened to him, I thought about a woman who recently told me that she loved the beauty of the open spaces and farm land, wanted to keep them that way, and supported zoning regulations that would prevent development.  I suggested to her that, if she wanted to control the use of the land, she ought to put her money where her mouth was and buy it.  She answered that she couldn’t afford it.  (I noted to myself that she could afford to buy a nice car and nice clothes, to send her kids to private schools, etc., but why should she pay for a nice scenic view when she can forcibly shift that cost to the property owner through the invisible theft of zoning?)  The do-gooders who promote “open space” zoning regulations call the landowners and the developers “greedy” as they, themselves, promote invisible theft by regulation.  At least a common thief knows his stealing is wrong, while these folks think they should be congratulated!  I would like to put that woman and others who support theft by zoning in touch with that old man so they could explain to him why he should bear the million dollar cost of providing them a picturesque view.  No doubt the old man would have been better off if he had trashed his land instead of taking good care of it; then the woman and her friends would insist that it be converted into a housing development in order to get rid of the eyesore!

          I cannot solve this old man’s problem, but I can urge people in the Louisville area who support property rights to start a Louisville chapter of the Kentucky Property Rights Association in order to help support and defend property owners.  If you are interested, contact KY League of property owners http://lokpo.org/ or me Editor@JeffersonReview.com

2.       Religious Outreach by Politicians   The Democrats are upset that the religious “right” has acquired some degree of political clout.  They claim that their liberal approach is more in line with biblical teachings.  For example, they say Jesus commanded us to help the poor and the downtrodden, and that is what their policies are designed to do.  I do remember Jesus telling the story about the Samaritan who used his own time and money to help the stranger on the road, but I don’t recall anything in the bible telling us that we should reach into our neighbors’ pockets for the resources to help the poor and downtrodden.  In fact, reaching into your neighbors’ pockets is called “theft” or “stealing” and is strictly prohibited by Judeo/Christian teachings.  Even “coveting” what is in your neighbors’ pockets is strictly prohibited.  If all the people who claim to support the Judeo/Christian teachings demanded that politicians take the position of respecting private property and keeping their hands in their own pockets, we all would be much better off – including the poor and downtrodden -- because they would receive help from people who would really care for them as opposed to receiving a sterile, uncaring government check designed to keep them dependent.

3.       Using the Race Card              It appears that Metro Louisville’s new council president can’t handle criticism of her job performance.  Instead of admitting that she is not doing the greatest job and taking steps to improve, she prefers to attack her critics as being bigots.  What a fine example she is setting for young people.  “Don’t strive to improve; don’t take responsibility for your own actions; just blame your failures on other people and accuse them of bigotry.”  With politicians, educators, and parents promoting that kind of approach, it is no wonder we have such a racial gap in education.  Who needs to study, develop job skills, or strive to overcome obstacles when it is so much easier just to blame other people for your failure?  Unfortunately, the failure to take personal responsibility only leads to more failure.  I would love to see more children of all races and income levels grow up to be successful adults, but that takes hard work --  not name-calling.

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