>Jim,
>
>>SNIP
>>>
>>>(In the USA we have property rights, as long as we pay taxes. You could say, in effect, that we rent from Uncle SAM!)
>>
>>Are you sure that you have property rights there Jerry? I thought I'd read, when that debate resurfaced here a few years back, that 'even the U.S.A. does not have property rights in its constitution'.
>
>We do, but as Jerry pointed out, that has pretty much been superceeded by the government being able to confiscate property at will via non-payment of taxes.

Doug;

Don’t forget the right of government to confiscate your property through eminent domain. Two examples I have seen of such action include building freeway 280 through San Francisco and the LBJ Presidential Library in Johnson City, Texas. In both cases property was confiscated and the owners paid much less than market value.

Don’t forget the right of government to confiscate your property through eminent domain. Two examples I have seen of such action include building freeway 280 through San Francisco and the LBJ Presidential Library in Johnson City, Texas. In both cases property was confiscated and the owners paid much less than market value.

One man (retired) refused to leave his house when 280 was being built. A U.S. Army Tank was brought from the Presidio in San Francisco to destroy the mans house. The TV cameras showed the Tank demolishing the house and the man running out the back door as the house came tumbling down.

In the case of LBJ, he had the two ranches, which adjoined his in Johnson City, condemned, so he could build his Library. The owners grew up with LBJ and the owners grandfathers helped LBJ’s grandfather establish Johnson City. The people of Johnson City were very upset at what LBJ did and I was there when it happened.

Tom