Texas Central Partners has threatened many Texas landowners with seizure of their property through eminent domain to build a proposed bullet train between Houston and Dallas. I share your concerns about the use of eminent domain. It is, as many of you have stated, a violation of your property rights. The right to property means the freedom to create, use, keep, trade, and dispose of material values. Eminent domain usurps this freedom by forcing you to sell regardless of your own desires.
In response to your objections, state legislators introduced at least twenty bills in the last legislative session aimed at stopping Texas Central. Unfortunately, many of these bills would violate the property rights of Texas Central.
As an example of the proposed legislation, HB2163 would have required rail lines for high-speed trains to be elevated forty feet in certain counties. This requirement would have dictated how Texas Central could use its property. It would not have been allowed to build the line at an elevation that it deemed best. Instead, it would have to meet the demands of state legislators.
As another example, SB978 would have required Texas Central to return all land to its “natural state” if the line failed. This bill would have imposed terms and conditions on Texas Central that it may or may not agree to.
As a third example, SB981 would have required Texas Central to demonstrate the compatibility of its rail line with other technologies. A property owner has a moral right to use his property as he chooses, including to introduce new technologies. Many (if not most) significant innovations in history, such as Edison’s light bulb and Ford’s Model T, were incompatible with existing technologies. So? If Texas Central wishes to use “incompatible” technology, it has a moral right to do so. Where would we be today if “incompatible” technologies were banned?
If you wish to defend your property rights, then you cannot advocate for or support the violation of other’s property rights. We can’t support a principle by calling for its violation. We must defend that principle without exception, or else we are hypocrites.
The right to property protects your freedom to use, trade, and dispose of your land as you choose. You can farm, ranch, and shoot feral hogs, or you can clear cut the land and turn it into a barren desert. It is your land; it is your choice. You can sell your property to any willing buyer, bequeath it to a family member, or retain ownership. It is your land; it is your choice.
Texas Central wants to violate your property rights. The solution isn’t the violation of Texas Central’s property rights. The solution is the principled defense of property rights, and there is a simple legislative remedy: change the law to deny any private company the authority to use eminent domain. Such a change in the law would protect everyone’s property rights.
If Texas Central can acquire the land that it needs through voluntary trade, then it has a moral right to use that land as it deems best. We may not always like how others choose to use their property, but if we want the freedom to use our property as we deem best, we must respect and defend the freedom of others to do the same. Anything less is hypocrisy.
Texas is known for individuals who have audacious dreams and work to make them a reality. This has happened because, more than most states, Texas respects property rights. Texas Central has an audacious dream—to build the world’s first privately funded high-speed rail line. We can admire and support their dream while simultaneously fighting their means for attaining it. We can support their dream and defend property rights for everyone, including Texas Central.
Many of your ancestors had audacious dreams and they worked hard to make those dreams a reality. They were able to do so because of property rights—the freedom to use their land as they deemed best. If you want to honor and protect that legacy and your heritage, then you must defend the principle of property rights.
We can show the world what it means to stand on principle. We can fight Texas Central’s efforts to seize your land while remaining true to the principle of property rights. And if Texas Central succeeds while honoring property rights, then we should applaud their accomplishment.