Last week, the United States House of Representatives passed legislation that will prohibit the federal Bureau of Land Management from claiming Texas land along the Red River as public domain. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), said,
The fundamental right to own property must be protected. This bill takes another crucial step in giving property owners the assurance they deserve to know once and for all where public lands end and private lands begin.
While the bill enjoyed bipartisan support (it passed by a vote of 363-62), few in Congress have sought to protect the property rights of those along the Rio Grande River. In south Texas, the federal government is engaged in a massive land grab to build the border wall. Indeed, many in Congress have supported the seizure of private property to build the wall.
Those who support property rights one moment and violations of property rights the next are nothing more than unprincipled hypocrites. They attempt to justify their hypocrisy by arguing that allegedly noble ends (such as the border wall) justify ignoble means (the seizure of private property).
Dictators throughout history have claimed that the ends justify their atrocities. From Lenin to Castro, from Hitler to Chavez, tyrants have claimed that mass murder and the seizure of private property serves the “greater good.”
In truth, ignoble ends require ignoble means. If the ends require the seizure of private property, then we should not limit our criticism to the means. Justice and honesty demand that we criticize the ends.