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The
increasing encroachment of government regulations, pontificating
politicians, and the enforcement of Social Justice schemes have led to a
loss of understanding of the terms private property and property rights. It
was once understood that the unauthorized entering of private property was
a violation to the utmost. The property owner was justified and supported
in taking necessary actions to remove the trespasser and secure that land.
Today,
such ideas are considered radical, old fashioned, out of touch, and even
reprehensible. The homeowner can be arrested for defending against an armed
intruder. The intruder can actually sue a homeowner for shooting them even
as the intruder breaks down the door intending to rob and do harm. Home
protection is called violence, perhaps even racism. It’s a whole new world
of compliance, fear, and acceptance rather than pride, protection, and
prosperity in ownership.
So,
if we are to succeed in restoring the ideals of property ownership and
benefit from the prosperity and freedom it creates, then a short discussion
of the full definition of private property is in order.
In
the beginning of the nation – after the Declaration of Independence and the
American Revolution, and the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Great
Britain — the American people became complete, sovereign freeholders in the
land with the same prerogatives as the King once had. Now in this new
nation the English King had no further claim to the land and could not tax
or otherwise encumber it.
From
that point the United States government acknowledged private ownership by
issuing land patents, also called “Letter Patents.” They were signed by the
President of the United States and recorded in the county record. From that
point the land then became the owner’s property in a “true land title.”
There were no other claims on the land. Land Patents or “Allodial Titles”
were one of the major motivators of the American Revolution, providing
rights to the land, free and clear of the liens and encumbrances of the
King of England.
Land
Patents are a contract or Document of Title, issued by government for the
conveyance of some portion of land from the public domain to private
individuals. According to Black’s Law, a Land Patent Contract means the
complete and absolute ownership of land; a paramount and individual right
of property in land.
But,
as expert Ron Gibson has written, the enjoyment of free and clear title
allowing owners to “own” their land without interference from any
government, including the government of the United States, didn’t last
long. Writes Gibson, “As a result of generations of constructive Trust
Fraud perpetuated against the American people. . . we’ve been conned into
believing we are ‘owning’ property, when in fact, and by law, we’re only in
‘possession’ of property utilizing it as a renter or tenant would. So long
as we pay our rent (i.e., taxes and mortgages), get the licenses, pay the
fees, have it insured, regulated, zoned and permitted, we can still remain
‘in possession.”
Gibson
goes on to say, “Our Land Patent Laws were largely derived from Old English
Laws, knows as Allodial Patents, which means (The King of your Land). Once
a patent has been issued by the United States Government, signed by the
President of the United States, and recorded in the county recorders
records in which the land is located, it then becomes your fee simple title
(owing to no one). Meaning a true land title!”
Today,
this history has been largely ignored by our government. Instead of a Land
Patent or Allodial Patent issued when one buys property, we are issued a
Warranty Deed. That is not a true title, but rather a “color of title.”
That means you have a partner in the ownership of the land. The partner is
the State, which encumbers the property with taxes and liens and all of
those things, which simply render you a tenant on what should be your own
land.
The
government’s refusal to acknowledge true property rights has led to a
massive destruction of the American system, and is at the root of the
creation of the largest reorganization of human society ever attempted.
In
the 1990s, an all-out assault on property rights was well underway, led by
a radical environmental movement, resulting in massive federal land grabs
in the name of conservation. As one can imagine, courts across the nation
were flooded with cases of people attempting to defend their property
rights from government taking. In the state of Washington, one of the major
targets for such programs, the state Supreme Court realized it didn’t have
an adequate definition of property rights to use in considering such cases.
That’s when State Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders wrote a “Fifth
Amendment” treatise which included the following definition of property
rights:
“Property
in a thing consists not merely in its ownership and possession, but in the
unrestricted right of use, enjoyment, and disposal. Anything which destroys
any of the elements of property, to that extent, destroys the property
itself. The substantial value of property lies in its use. If the right of
use be denied, the value of the property is annihilated and ownership is
rendered a barren right.”
Clearly
Sanders’ definition is based on the concept of Land Patents and Allodial
Title. “Use” of the land is the key. Using the land in a productive way
beneficial to the owner is what gives the land value. Simply paying the
taxes and mortgage while some undefined government entity can rule and
regulate how the property is used, according to Justice Sanders, is a
“barren right” that annihilates its value.
So,
if private property rights are to be saved in the nation that practically
invented the concept, let there be no doubt in what the term means.
Ten
Points to Define True Private Property Rights
The
owner’s exclusive authority to determine how private property is used;
The
owner’s peaceful possession, control, and enjoyment of his/her lawfully
purchased, real private property;
The
owner’s ability to make contracts to sell, rent, or give away all or part
of the lawfully purchased/real private property;
That
local, city, county, state, and federal governments are prohibited from
exercising eminent domain for the sole purpose of taking lawfully owned
private property to resell to a private interest for a private project;
That
no level of government has the authority to impose directives, ordinances,
fees, or fines regarding landscaping, color selections, tree and plant
preservation, or open spaces on lawfully purchased/real private property;
That
no level government shall implement a land use plan that requires any part
of lawfully purchased private property be set aside for public use or for a
Natural Resource Protection Area directing that no construction or
disturbance may occur;
That
no level of government shall implement a law or ordinance restricting the
number of outbuildings that may be placed on lawfully purchased/real
private property;
That
no level of government shall alter or impose zoning restrictions or
regulations that will devalue or limit the ability to sell lawfully
purchased/real private property;
That
no level of government shall limit profitable or productive agriculture
activities by mandating and controlling what crops and livestock are grown
on lawfully purchased/real private property;
That
no level of government representatives or their assigned agents may
trespass on private property without the consent of the property owner or
is in possession of a lawful warrant from a legitimate court of law. This
includes invasion of property rights and privacy by government use of
unmanned drone flights, with the exceptions of exigent circumstances such
as protection of life, limb or the private property itself.
These
points speak specifically to the right of USE of the property. They do not
infringe on a local government’s ability for local rule or to impose local,
reasonable, legal policy, so long as such policies recognize and protect
the owner’s use of their private property.
Under
current policies being implemented in every state and nearly every
community, each of these points are being violated daily. Local governments
are creating partnerships with private developers, using the powers of
eminent domain to confiscate property for the building of private entities
and enterprises such as shopping malls, manufacturing plants, and housing
developments with the express purpose of raising tax revenues.
Federal
agencies such as HUD, EPA and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been
systematically fining property owners, even confiscating and locking away
private land, prohibiting its use and destroying traditional industry and
farming.
State
and local governments are forcing developers to set aside large tracts of
land to enforce open space and green areas, which imposes punitive
financial impositions on the property owners.
Finally,
governments at every level routinely trespass on private land to measure,
photograph and map, with the express purpose of creating new
regulations.
Each
of these actions is taken by government for the sole purpose of controlling
the use of the land. The very idea of “unrestricted right of use” by the
property owner terrifies the powers in charge as they race to control every
inch of land and its use. Meanwhile, under such plans the very idea of
private property rights has become ignored and voided by government edict.
The owner, then, has lost the ability to defend his property, or control
who has access. The result is that private property rights, according
to Justice Sanford’s definition, have ceased to exist.
Nearly
an unlimited variety of government programs, schemes and tricks are
employed to control land use and violate the concept of private property.
There are international rules and treaties, federal regulations and
programs, state projects, and local plans — many interconnected to one
specific goal designed to change our society, form of government, and way
of life. Each focus on control or destruction of private property to
achieve its goal. Leading that drive are powerful forces in partnership
with private organizations having specific agendas and nearly unlimited
funds affecting and affecting policies necessary for bringing it about.
To
preserve our freedom, every American must understand why private property
ownership must be protected.
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