Christina Sandefur of the free-market Goldwater Institute in Arizona discusses her coauthored book, Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America (paid link), and related issues. This is the Self in Society Podcast #21. This episode is also available via iTunes and YouTube (audio only).
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Time Markers
00 Intro
3:08 “People before property”
5:27 The destruction of businesses
6:40 The case of Ossian Sweet
9:32 Property vs. mob rule
11:03 Weighing severity of harms; damage of minority neighborhoods
13:21 Evictions in the pandemic
19:00 Short-term rentals
22:54 Historical context
28:35 The racist origins of zoning
30:56 Eminent domain and the Kelo case
40:15 Categories of abuses of property rights
44:22 Asset forfeiture and the Kevin McBride case
54:50 Permits as extortion and the Koontz case
1:01:56 Regulatory takings and the Sackett case
1:09:43 The Arizona property-rights protection law
1:17:53 “Judicial activism”
1:22:32 Property rights as the foundation of all other rights
1:24:57 The problem of origination of land property rights
1:31:28 Sandefur’s education and career path
1:38:21 Right to Try and medical freedom
1:40:15 Wrap-up
See Sandefur’s bio at the Goldwater Institute. She also discussed her book with C-span.
See the Goldwater Institute’s blog, and sign up for the Institute’s updates.
Follow the Goldwater Institute and Christiana Sandefur on Twitter. (Follow Timothy Sandefur while you’re at it.)
The Goldwater Institute maintains a page about asset forfeiture. Colorado passed a 2002 forfeiture reform law (an effort I was part of), but the Institute for Justice still gives Colorado a “C” grade on this issue because of the law’s limitations.
Sandefur has a 2016 article on home-sharing and short-term rentals.
PBS has information on Colorado’s 2014 “Right to Try” law. Legislative Council published a 2017 report about it.
I quite enjoyed the film Little Pink House (paid link; free on Amazon Prime now), about the Kelo case. Sandefur also recommends the book (paid link).
In a recent article I quote some of Ludwig von Mises’s remarks about the origination of property rights. I’ve also written articles about rioting and eviction freezes.
In the show I mentioned a drug raid in Westminster, Colorado. The Westminster PD replied to the original media report. I continue to find the case disturbing and worthy of a full investigation.
In the news: The Goldwater Institute discusses a recent case of asset forfeiture involving youth soccer funds. The Colorado Springs Gazette has a recent article about short-term rentals in ski towns. Ilya Somin discusses a “takings” case involving union access to property.
See also my interviews with Timothy Sandefur on Frederick Douglass and Jacob Bronowski.
See the Self in Society Podcast page.