Do You Own Your Home? Really?

The bedrock of a free society is a system of private property and the rights afforded that system.Being able to own property and use it to prosper or do with as you please is what made this country what it is today. --------------------------------------------------------The first settlers to set up a permanent colony in the New World did so in Jamestown, Virginia. The first group consisted of 104 men. Within 6 months their were only 38 still alive.

A little less than 2 years later another 500 were sent over from England and again more than ¾ of them died. It is recorded from eye witness accounts, one being from a fellow named George Percy, that these settlers died of famine. They literally starved to death.

Understand this was a rich and fertile land the settlers had settled upon. Close by Oceans teeming with seafood, lush woodlands full of birds and game and rich soil that the Indians of the area grew corn and other crops.

How could this happen with such industrious people. There are several theories. One being the settlers chose a marshy area to settle in and couldn't find fresh water or grow crops.

The more plausible and reported reason was a lack of work ethic. Yes, no one wanted to work. England had set up the new World settlement as a collective society. A collective society where everyone worked for the good of everyone else. Everything was put into a collective pool and redistributed by the Government.

The people of Jamestown didn't really have anything to work for, to strive for. There was nothing to achieve so people worked when they felt like it and didn't when they didn't feel like it. Soon squabbles broke out as to who was doing more work than who.

Working harder and longer would be necessary in such a situation as the settlers were in to survive. The problem was there was no personal stake in for the individual.

There were also problems with the Indians. The starving settlers took to trading whatever they had with the Indians for a little corn. Some of them became sort of servants to the Indians and many resorted to stealing.

So the the first settlers of the New World didn't work harder and they starved.

The British Government and a group of private investors had financed these operations and were frustrated with the results. They couldn't understand why this was happening.

So, in 1611 the British sent over one Sir Thomas Doyle to serve as High Marshall of the Virginia colony. What he found and recorded when he arrived was that most of the settlers were dead, had starved to death, and the ones that remained were mostly fighting amongst themselves or playing games in the street.

What Doyle did laid the foundation for what was to come and what makes our country a model and so successful. He initiated a private property system in the new world. Every man was given 3 acres of

land to work for himself and do with as he pleased. Almost immediately the colony began to prosper. The people began to trade with each other, to trade with the Indians and to support and feed themselves.

A great example of the prosperity and entrepreneurship derived from private property is John Rolfe. John Rolfe experimented with tobacco seeds successfully. Tobacco became the first profitable export out of the new colony. Many were to follow.

The same thing happened many miles up the East coast when the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts.This time William Bradford was sent to figure it out. Again private property is what saved the adventurers.

Fast forward a century and a half when our forefathers wrote about private property in our Bill of Rights and the Constitution. The 5th amendment says:

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

When the Government takes land from the people they call it eminent domain.

What the 5th was originally intended for was land and property needed to run the Government. The Government needed building and courthouses to function. During war time the Government may need to seize property for the defense of the country.

What eminent domain has become throughout time is a way for Government to redistribute land as they see fit under the guise of public good. Sometimes even taking homes under the eminent domain act and turning that land over to business that will create a larger tax base.

Urban Renewal is an excuse for eminent domain. When the Government decides that a neighborhood needs improving they can take your home and sell or give the land to a developer. Blighted is the key word here. When an area is considered blighted it gives Government the right to take it over.

Case in point is Berman vs Parker in Washington DC, 1954. A blighted neighborhood was bought out but one department store didn't want to sell and have to move. The United States Supreme court voted against the store.

In 1981 the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against Poletown, a district in Detroit, and homes, businesses, churches and a hospital were torn down to make way for a GM plant. In 2004 a different Michigan supreme court ruled that the court was previously wrong. You can't take one persons property and give it to another.

Still, the damage was done.

The most famous case recently of Suzette Kelo vs The City of New London. The City wanted to tear down a large area so Pfizer, the giant pharmaceutical company, could build there and have the area around the buildings clear. Kelo lost and the neighborhoods were demolished. In the end Pfizer left anyway and left behind vast fields of weeds, emptiness and vacant buildings.

Our own Arena here in Wichita Kansas was built using eminent domain. Whether you are an arena fan or not many businesses were displaced. Some never returned to profitably and went out of business

altogether. A Few were very vocal against eminent domain and were vastly overpaid with taxpayer dollars to quiet them.

So there is a history of the beginnings of private property rights and the abuses put upon those rights by Government..

The question is, is your property safe? Do you really own it? Do you feel comfortable knowing the Government can swoop down at any time and take it from you for whatever reason?

And consider this. You work hard when your young, save your money and buy a piece of America. Your own home and your very own mortgage. Every month for 30 years you make a payment on that mortgage. A third of your life working to pay off your home and finally you own it free and clear. But do you really own it? Do you feel safe and secure knowing no matter what happens at least you have a place to live?

As long as you pay your taxes on that property the Government allows you to stay there. No, you don't really own it, ever.

Consider this. You have your mortgage paid off and suddenly the economy is throw into a recession. You've lost your job through no fault of your own. Your saving dwindle to nothing and you can't pay the taxes on your house.

Now the place you worked for all your life so you would be secure and safe is threatened. Finally after you've exhausted all your legalities and are completely out of money the Government sells your house to someone else that can pay the taxes.

Who really owns your home. Something to think about. Get involved in your Government.