The Texas Monthly has an excellent article on the hypocrisy of Texas politicians who proclaim their support for property rights. In the article, the magazine notes that many prominent conservatives–Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Gregg Abbott, and Ken Paxton–fought the federal government when it sought to use eminent domain to seize property along the Red River in northern Texas. Those same politicians have largely remained silent when eminent domain is threatened to be used along the Rio Grande in southern Texas to build the border wall.
As the article reports,
There are a few obvious differences between the Red River dispute and the impending Rio Grande controversy: this latest federal land grab is being conducted by a Republican presidential administration; it’s necessary for a border wall project that remains popular among a conservative base shared by all four politicians; and it primarily affects a part of the state that leans blue, whereas the Red River land grab mostly affected ranchers in North Texas, who are generally conservative.
In other words, conservative politicians defend the property rights of their supporters, and they will throw the property rights of others under the bus. They aren’t principled defenders of property rights. They are political opportunists who will do whatever is politically popular at the moment.
If the use of eminent domain in north Texas was an “unconscionable land grab,” as Abbott put it in 2015, why is it acceptable in south Texas 2018? If, as Cruz said at the time, “It is imperative that we protect landowners from federal overreach,” why isn’t that equally true today?
The answer is quite simple: these politicians are not principled. They will take a position, not based on principles, but based on what is expedient. North Texans are conservative, and so the politicians “defend” their property rights. The border wall is popular with conservatives, and voters in south Texas don’t tend to vote for conservatives, so politicians will support violating their property rights.
A principle with an exception is not a principle. It is a loose guideline that one will follow when it is convenient. And one will also violate it when convenient. Unfortunately, Texas politicians are demonstrating this truth. And real people are being hurt in the process.