In the most recent legislative session, Texas lawmakers passed several bills intended to strengthen property rights. At the same time, they passed at least one bill that represents a gross infringement of property rights. That inconsistency indicates that legislators really don’t understand what the right to property means.
Property rights protect our freedom to create, use, keep, trade, and dispose of material values. The right to property means the freedom to use our “stuff” as we deem best, as long as we respect the freedom of others to do the same.
If a property owner wants to cut down a tree on his land, he has a moral right to do so. Similarly, if a brewery wishes to sell its products directly to consumers, it has a moral right to do so. Yet, the legislature passed a bill that forces some small breweries to sell their products to a distributor and then purchase that product back from the distributor before they can legally sell to the public. The law prevents both breweries and consumers from using their property as they choose.
Practically, the law provides no benefit to anyone except distributors. Breweries will be faced with higher costs, and undoubtedly, most of those costs will be passed on to consumers.
Morally, the law is atrocious. It prohibits individuals and businesses from engaging in voluntary trade that each believes is beneficial. That the bill was passed under the guise of protecting consumers makes it even worse.
Protecting property rights is one of the basic purposes of government. While we should applaud the efforts of legislators to fulfill that purpose, we should also criticize them when they pass legislation that does the exact opposite.