With the 2019 legislative session just a few months away, the proposed bullet train between Dallas and Houston is once again gaining increased attention. In both 2015 and 2017, both opponents and supporters of the project descended on Austin to argue their positions. To many, the bullet train represents a conflict of values.
For example, the Texas Tribune reports that
At the state Capitol, the bullet train represents the collision of two things that Republicans — who control Texas government — hold dear: private property rights and an unrestrained free market. And for two legislative sessions in a row, the free market has largely come out on top. The project has emerged relatively unscathed after bills aimed at hamstringing or killing it failed to get much traction.
To claim that the bullet train represents the collision of property rights and a free market is to admit that one does not understand either.
The right to property means the freedom to create, use, keep, trade, and dispose of material values. A free market is one in which individuals can act on their own judgment to create, attain, and trade material values. A free market cannot exist without property rights, and the protection of property rights requires a free market. In a free market, trade only occurs between willing parties, with each party trading and disposing of their property as they judge best.
But the plan for building the bullet train is an abrogation of both property rights and a free market. Texas Central, the company behind the train, proposes to use eminent domain to attain land from unwilling sellers. In other words, some property owners will be forced to sell their land, regardless of the owner’s desires or choices.
The bullet train is certainly a controversial issue, and passions run high on both sides. But we cannot make good decisions when much of the discussion involves a misrepresentation of the facts. We cannot make good decisions when we believe that there is a conflict between property rights and a free market. There isn’t.