Reversing the Purpose of Government
Sept 24, 2002 

      IRVINE, CA,--For many years governments nationwide have been incrementally undercutting the right of property owners to control their property--effectively subverting the purpose of government, said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

      In city after city, step by small step, noted Dr. Brook, the control of private property has been abrogated by some arm of the government. In Lake Tahoe, for example, the Regional Planning Agency is demanding that random passersby be able to dictate the color, the look, the architectural design of a person's home. Why? As the agency's deputy director, Carl Hasty, explains, "There should not be a dominance of the landscape by buildings. Natural landscape should dominate." Translation: Hasty's esthetic opinions should dominate.

      "This sort of power abuse," said Dr. Brook, "is an inversion of the very purpose of government."

      "There is no such thing as a passerby's 'right to a pleasing view,'" said Dr. Brook. "If an individual owns property, he has the moral right to control it--even if that conflicts with the esthetic tastes of passersby and government bureaucrats. In a free society one has the right to acquire property and to use it without interference from others. There is no moral basis for demanding that an owner alter his property to make the view more pleasing to an onlooker. Your life--and property--belong to you not to others."

      Dr. Brook noted that the authors of the Declaration of Independence clearly stated that the purpose of government is to protect the rights of the individual, not usurp them. Those authors also warned of government encroachment upon our rights--"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." "In Lake Tahoe--and across America--the right to property," Dr. Brook said, "is under attack. Now is the time for vigilance."

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Dr. Yaron Brook is available for interviews. To interview Dr. Brook or book him for your show, please e-mail media@aynrandcenter.org

For more articles by Yaron Brook, and his bio, click here.