Those engaged in policy debates often make arbitrary assertions. The arbitrary can take many different forms, but it always includes a claim with no reference to actual facts. It is an assertion without evidence to validate it. Because it has no cognitive value, we should reject the arbitrary out of hand.
An example comes from an article regarding an upcoming initiative in Portland, Maine. The initiative would exempt landlords with fewer that ten units from the city’s rent control laws. Current law exempts landlords who own fewer than five units and live on the property.
The author of the cited article asserts that the initiative would not benefit “mom and pop” landlords because corporations own almost all of the housing in question. Therefore, it is “very unlikely” that the landlord lives in the building. Further, those corporations are “likely” earning thousands of dollars in rent. The author does not provide a single piece of evidence to support his claims. Instead, he makes assertions without offering a single fact in support of his position.
It is not difficult to identify the owner of a property. Rather than arbitrarily asserting who owns the properties impacted by the initiative, the author could have spent a few minutes on the web to obtain facts and figures.
The defenders of rent control frequently lament the fact that an ever-growing portion of America’s rental housing is owned by corporations. However, they never cite any statistics. They might point to a few corporations that have a substantial number of housing units, but that is hardly evidence that those companies own the bulk of the nation’s rental housing.
The housing crisis is a real problem. However, we can’t effectively address it by inventing “facts.” If we want to solve the housing crisis, then we must reject the arbitrary.