Property Rights, A call to action

A call to action… Now is the time to act and for you to join the fight to protect and to keep private property rights that you use and enjoy. Well meaning individuals are campaigning to remove many of these fundamental rights that most Americans take for granted.

Every property enjoys a “bundle of rights”

Real estate agents and brokers work to market and transfer both the property and the property’s “bundle of rights”. These are the rights people have in real estate they own – also called “private property rights”.

There are two primary philosophies in America today regarding land ownership and real estate ownership. The first philosophy calls for and advocates the government owning the maximum amount of real estate, including land. People in this camp do not trust home owner’s and private property owners to manage their real estate responsibly. The opposing group, those who support people owning their own home or own land, see the rights people hold in private property as the core to living in a free society.

Well meaning socialists have advocated the public’s ownership of everything from your home, land, means of production, capital, credit, and health care. This has been true since the start of recorded history. Socialism has been and continues to be experimented with throughout the history of the World, including those happenings today.

Through past attempts we have seen the same result; failure. Evidence of this is seen in history books. Here in the United States we see the experimenting of Socialism with Obamacare and the failings of it. Which hopefully we will see repealed this year.

Every American’s Opportunity

The United States was founded on the principal of every American having the opportunity and benefit of owning real estate and private property rights. “It’s all on your shoulders to push yourself as hard as you can. And that dictates how successful you will be,” according to The Code of the West; Alive and Well on Wyoming Trailer. It is essential for capitalism to flourish that you have the right to manage, control, and own your own home, farm, ranch, land, and your own business. The quality and standard of living we enjoy today, we owe mostly to our ability to own our own homes, our own real estate and our own land.

If you no longer had the right to own your own home, to own your own lot or your own land, what would America look like?

Private property rights are being attacked now more than ever by agencies of the federal government and by laws with deceptive labels. The Environmental Protection Act has a pretty name but in reality, the act transfers the management decisions you have in your home or property over to the the federal government. There are many laws and acts that have the same effect, such as, wet lands laws, endangered species acts, national monuments being proclaimed, and others that have The Waters of the US (WOTUS), for example, was passed and is to be implemented by the Environmental protection agency (EPA). President-elect Trumps pick for head of the EPA, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, had this to say about

WOTUS: “The WOTUS rule is a devastating blow to private property rights and is an unlawful power grab by the EPA over virtually all bodies of water in the United States.” That was in response to the 2015 stay, pledging to continue the fight against it.

Another practice that has been used by many Presidents is the use of the Antiquities Act to declare National Monuments. On Dec. 28 President Barack Obama inked two new national monuments into being: the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears monument in southeastern Utah, and the 300,000-acre Gold Butte monument northeast of Las Vegas, NV.

This increases the president’s haul of lands he has designated under the Antiquities Act to 29 monuments and some 553 million acres. These will have large negative effects on ranchers operations in this areas and can limit the recreation that was once enjoyed in those areas as well. Right now Oregonians are fighting to keep the Owyhee Canyonlands from becoming a monument in Eastern Oregon because of the negative effects it would have on the locals, the local economy and recreationist.

This is not a simple disagreement between the two philosophies to arrive at an agreed upon objective. Freedom of choice, freedoms and rights guaranteed by the US Constitution, and quality of life are at stake. Real estate owners and renters are being burdened with higher taxes and increases in takings and loss of private property rights.

However, many people are learning the issues. They are getting involved. They are fighting to defend the personal and private rights people enjoy in properties they own or rent – to help protect owners and future owners. Reasonable people know that the government cannot spend its way out of debt. It cannot keep taking water from the well without eventually running the well dry.

Now is the Time to Act

Now is the time to act and for you to join the fight to protect and to keep private property rights you use and enjoy.

And now is the time to help your neighbor protect his or her rights. Get involved. Talk to your real estate agent or your broker about the issues as they affect private property ownership. Join groups associated with private property and rights in property. There are many groups you can contact or join and get involved. Contact the author for more information about groups and ways to get involved.

John Knipe is the designated real estate broker for Knipe Land Company, Inc., and Knipe Land Northwest, LLC. He is a designated, principal, and/or managing broker in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington State. Knipe is also a cooperative broker in Nevada as needed.

Visit Knipe Land Company’s website at http://knipeland. com Knipe has served as President of the Company for over 20 years. Knipe is an Accredited Land Consultant. Knipe is a Director at the World Organization Land Federation http://www.worldorganizationlandfederation.biz John Knipe is a Sr. ALC with the Realtors® Land Institute. Knipe is the Sr. Executive Editor of this magazine. Knipe is a leading farm and ranch broker and also does land development. consequences and limit the rights an owner or renter has in their home and land.

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