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Christina Sandefur on the Defense of Property Rights
Copyright © 2024 by Ari Armstrong
This episode originally was published on November 14, 2020, and reposted here on May 8, 2024.
Self in Society Podcast #21
Spotify Main (with video) | Spotify Podcast | Podcast Page
Christina Sandefur of the free-market Goldwater Institute in Arizona discusses her coauthored book, Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America, and related issues.
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.
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, about the Kelo case. Sandefur also recommends the book. 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.