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Property Rights at Risk E. Ralph Hostetter There is one word that separates all mankind from serfdom. That word is property. More specifically, it is the individual ownership of private property. A form of serfdom occurs when an entity other than yourself controls both you and the land which you own and on which you live. Throughout history, man had struggled for his individual right to property. It was not until the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified along with its Bill of Rights on Dec. 15, 1791, that man, for the first time in recorded history, received the universal right of unrestricted ownership of private property, in any quantity, for every citizen in the land. The missing link, property, in the trinity of God-given rights — life, property, and liberty — was at last provided to the former British subjects in the newly created United States of America. These newly propertied citizens would be known henceforth as Americans! The right to life is unquestioned. The right to property is necessary to support life, and liberty is the right to use one's private property to support one's life, provided its use does not interfere with the rights of others. Liberty at last was more secure, since it now ran with the land. Since the halcyon days following the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the inventive genius that followed over the next 200 years, America has been developed into the most powerful nation on earth. The productive use of private property with all its ensuing blessings brought this remarkable achievement to reality. That was then — this is now. Today a special breed of socialist envirocrat is moving the nation in the direction of state control of private property. Envirocrats parading with a banner of green have captured the moral high ground of the environmental movement and are using it for their own political agenda. They have placed a thin layer of green over their old far left red, much like a watermelon. They appear green on the outside but they are red to the core. Story Continues Below
In reality they are watermelon Marxists. Karl Marx said: In order "for Socialism (Communism) to occur, you must first abolish private property." Probably one of the most blatant socialist takeovers of private property rights occurred in New Jersey with the passage of the Highlands Act, signed into law on Aug. 10, 2004, on the eve of the resignation of the disgraced governor of New Jersey, James E. McGreevey. The New Jersey legislature with the signature of a resigning governor condemned the citizens of seven counties and 88 municipalities of New Jersey to extensive devaluation of private property values without just compensation, or in fact, any compensation as set forth by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. Property values plummeted over the entire area. One of the first hit, disastrously, was Robert Best of Hackettsville, N.J., the proprietor of a 47-acre peach orchard accompanied by a large farmers' market, grocery store, and meat market of supermarket proportions. The 10 acres facing the highway were zoned commercial. The back 37 acres were zoned residential.
Paul Mulshine's column in the Aug. 5, 2007, Jersey City Star-Ledger describes Best's situation: "Two days later (after the Highlands Act bill-signing on Aug. 10, 2004,) (Robert) Best was set to close on a new mortgage for the farm stand, one with a lower interest rate. That mortgage was backed by the multimillion-dollar value of his 47 farm acres across the highway. Prior to Aug. 10, that land would have sold for millions." But once the bill was signed, all development value disappeared. "'On the 13th (of August), the bankers foreclosed,' Best said. He now pays the new owner to rent the building he built back in 1988." Other provisions of the Highlands Act include the following: A property owner may need up to 25 to 88 acres to build a single dwelling house. The New Jersey Department of Environment requires an application for an exemption certificate, payment of DEP fees, extensive environmental studies and deed-restrictions on your property from any further development. You will need a 25-acre lot to build a new house and you will have to deed restrict 24 of those acres, which will prevent you from even mowing the lawn on the other 24 acres. If the DEP or the environmental group they appoint wants to inspect your property or your house, they don't need a search warrant, and if you deny them entry to your property, they can fine you $5,000 per day. If you have any kind of previously issued Highlands permit, the fine for denial of inspection increases to $10,000 per day. A person who purposely or negligently violates any provision of the act can be fined up to $50,000 per day for each violation. Property taxes could be expected to be reduced in keeping with the devaluation of the property value. Not so. Property taxes increased, some to triple what they were. Amendments 5 and 14 of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, establishing the universal right to private property, freed all American citizens from any form of serfdom. The watermelon Marxists in the New Jersey legislature, passing the Highlands Act of August 2004 has set a course for New Jersey on a road that leads back to virtual serfdom.
E. Ralph Hostetter, a prominent businessman and agricultural publisher, also is a national and local award-winning columnist. He welcomes comments by e-mail: eralphhostetter@yahoo.com.
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