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From your front yard and more!

From your front yard and more!

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REGULATORY SATURATIONPart Three — How Did Government Get Into My Front Yard?If you want to understand Regulatory Saturation, don’t start in Washington.Don’t start with Congress.Don’t start with some enormous federal agency.Walk outside your front door.Stand in your own yard.And look around.You bought the property.You maintain it.You pay the mortgage, if there is one.You pay the taxes.You repair the house.You mow the lawn.But now ask a very different question:How many things can government tell you that you may—or may not—do with that property?Can you build another structure?Maybe you need a permit.Can you convert your garage into a bedroom?There may be building and occupancy requirements.Can you operate a business from your house?Check the zoning ordinance.Can you put up a large sign?There may be a sign code.Can you build a fence?There may be rules governing its height and location.Can you park an RV or commercial vehicle on your property?There may be another ordinance for that.How tall can your grass become?There may be a rule.Where can you place your trash containers?There may be a rule.What condition must the exterior of your property remain in?There may be a rule.Even the size and placement of the numbers identifying your house may be regulated.Now stop.Don’t argue whether any particular one of those rules is reasonable.That misses the point.Look at them together.That is Regulatory Saturation.One rule governs the building.Another governs the land.Another governs the grass.Another governs the fence.Another governs the vehicles.Another governs the signs.Another governs what kind of activity can occur there.And each one can be defended separately.Safety.Fire protection.Property values.Traffic.Appearance.Public health.Emergency access.Again, maybe some of those regulations are completely justified.The question is larger.What is the cumulative result?Because eventually something remarkable happens.You still hold title to the property.But an enormous portion of what you may actually do with that property is surrounded by governmental conditions.And that raises a question Americans should be willing to ask:What does ownership mean when so many ordinary uses of ownership require governmental permission?Notice what I did not say.I did not say government cannot regulate property.It can.I did not say zoning is automatically unconstitutional.It isn’t.I did not say building codes are inherently unlawful.They aren’t.Those conclusions would destroy the inquiry before it begins.The question is:Where are the boundaries?And perhaps more importantly:When was the last time anybody required government to identify those boundaries?Because Regulatory Saturation can produce a strange reversal.Instead of government asking:“Do we possess authority to prohibit this?”the property owner begins asking:“Am I allowed to do this?”Think about the difference.One presumes liberty until government demonstrates a lawful limitation.The other begins by searching government regulations to discover what liberty remains.That distinction is enormous.And we have become so accustomed to the second question that most people don’t even recognize what has happened.Someone wants to build a shed.What’s the first question?Do I need a permit?Someone wants to operate a small business from home.Am I allowed?Someone wants to put something on his property.What does the ordinance say?Those may be prudent questions.But there is another question that almost never gets asked:What is the precise source and scope of government’s authority to impose this particular restriction?Now we have arrived at the Liberty Dialogues.Because the LD System does not tell us to walk into city hall screaming:“This is my property! You have no authority!”That is a conclusion.Instead, ask questions.What law authorizes this?What governmental body enacted it?What authority did that body possess?Was authority delegated to this department or official?What is the jurisdictional reach of the ordinance?What facts trigger it?What definitions are controlling?Does my property actually fall within them?What procedure must government follow before enforcement?What hearing or appeal is available?What must government prove?Now something important has happened.We have stopped fighting the government.We have started examining the government’s claim.And that is exactly what Regulatory Saturation makes difficult.Because when thousands of regulations already exist, we instinctively assume the authority behind them has already been established somewhere by somebody.Maybe it has.Then government should be able to demonstrate it.But maybe the particular application depends upon a definition.A factual determination.A jurisdictional predicate.A delegation of authority.A procedure.A presumption.Those things can be examined.And your front yard provides the perfect place to understand the larger principle.Because Regulatory Saturation does not usually arrive with ...
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.