Saturday, March 30, 2013

Take that....

  The Delaware County Circuit Court recently ruled that Ball State University could forcibly take private property in order to build a hotel. As if this decision wasn't horrible enough, BSU is also insisting that the victims of the decision should be required to post a $1 million appeal bond before another court can re-hear the case.

  As we continue our decline into a state of unlimited government, we all need to remember that under the court's rationale, if a state college decided to open a satellite school anywhere, any neighboring property would be fair game for any reason. If taking property to build a hotel because people visiting the university might stay in that hotel passes muster, it is hard to imagine a scenario where any taking couldn't be justified by a court.

  More and more, this old quote hits home:

 
"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."...Martin Niemöller

 We may not own a printing company, and we may not live in Muncie, but if we care at all about the right to own property, we need to speak up.

 Now.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The estate we're in....

   I was in on a conversation today with a person who had been working on some estate planning. I'm all about thinking ahead, but I don't really have any estate that requires much planning.

  I guess the purpose of estate planning is to insure that your assets and possessions won't be taken after you die. Sounds like a plan. It's always a good idea to protect your stuff. I suppose that's why people lock their doors and buy insurance.

 The thing is, estate planning isn't for protecting your stuff from your run of the mill bad guys. It is for protecting your stuff from the government.

  Stop and think about that for a minute. Some people spend thousands of dollars to protect their possessions from the government. Some people don't. People who spend thousands of dollars get to pass their possessions on to their children. People who don't, don't.

  I'm not sure when we reached the point in this country that we had to scheme and plan to keep the government from taking our stuff. Or when we reached the point that we believe it's alright for people who understand estate planning, and who can afford estate planners, to keep their stuff, but it's not alright for people who don't understand or can't afford it to keep theirs.

  There are a few things government should do. It should protect us from force and fraud.

  It shouldn't take anybody's stuff. Dead or alive.

 

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