The Issues
Property Rights
Property Rights are not only the equivalent of political rights, they are inseparable from them. A government that can take (or enable the taking of) your property is a government that can, at will, terrify you into silence.
Almost as importantly, clarity on who owns what is necessary to smoothly operating markets. Markets hate uncertainty, more than they hate routine adverse conditions. You can adjust to just about any condition: inflation, unemployment, even obscenely high tax rates, as long as you know that tomorrow's rules will be the same as today's. But if you don't know who owns what, or who can sell what, all deals become conditional, making planning next to impossible.
The Kelo decision several years back has brought into question a bedrock principle that was considered settled law for over 200 years: the notion that your property is your own. Colorado has reltively strong protections against the government turning over your property to some other private developer. However, it is only a statute, not a provision in the state constitution.
- I would support a Referred Measure prohibiting the government from taking private property for commercial development by a third party.
- I would support a legal analysis of a measure requiring that new regulation encumbering the use of private property be considered a "taking," and require compensation of affected property owners.
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