The Overton Window of Property Rights in America

The Overton Window is a concept that describes a narrow window along the political spectrum that contains the ideas the public will accept. This window can be anywhere from total anarchy to total state control. Here in America I think our Overton Window of property rights is too close to the total state control end of the political spectrum. That probably doesn’t sit well with most people who think of themselves as staunch supporters of property rights. I am willing to bet that the perception of acceptable property rights for most Americans fall somewhere in the socialism section of the political spectrum.

I will present a scenario and you decide which person is the property owner, and which is not. “John” lives in a house on some property. He is free to make changes to the house or add additional buildings on the lot as long as he gets permission from “Sally”. If John doesn’t give Sally an appropriate amount of money each year he is kicked out of the house. I think everyone would agree that Sally is the owner and John is the renter. Consider that in this scenario John represents what we would call property owners and Sally, the owner, represents our government.

John is allowed to live in the house, but changes or additions must be done with Sally’s permission. This represents our building codes and zoning ordinances. John can only make changes or additions after he gets a permit and complies with all of the requirements that the government sees fit to enforce. Clearly Sally, our government, is the owner. In order to stay on the property John has to pay Sally rent every year, this represents property taxes. If payment isn’t made John is no longer allowed on the property, just like a property owner who does not pay his taxes. Clearly Sally, our government, is the owner in every sense of the word and we are allowed to be but stewards of said property.

Many people make the argument that we cannot allow people to do whatever they want with their property. Maybe they will build a bar, or strip club, or put lots of livestock on it, the list of perceived unacceptable uses goes on and on. Admittedly there will be people that do things that their neighbors, and entire neighborhoods will not like or approve of, and those things may even lower surrounding neighbor’s property value. Letting others have the freedom to own and use property does leave open the possibility that your neighbor may use his freedom in a way that you do not like. So instead we as a society are content to support socialistic laws in order to make ourselves feel like we are protecting our neighborhoods. In reality if property rights were uninhibited there would be little to no change in most communities.

I understand why most people support our current zoning laws, and are afraid to let others use their property as they see fit. That is a fine opinion to have but we should all understand that doing so is supporting a degree of socialism, and it is an opinion in direct conflict with the right to own and control private property. Most people say they are for individual liberty, but mostly they are only concerned about their own individual liberty, and not that of their neighbor. As far as property rights go my own personal feelings are summed up well by Thomas Jefferson: “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”

Hopefully as a society we can begin to have the opinion that if someone owns property they can do with it what they like, without seeking the opinion of anyone else. As we adopt this line of thinking the Overton Window of property rights will slide closer to the total freedom side of the political spectrum, where I believe the Founder’s would have wanted it.