“A man’s
home is his castle”. In today’s
politically correct and gender inclusive society we might say “A person’s home is his/her castle”.
Whatever.
The
formal name for this axiom is the Castle Doctrine. It derives from English Common Law and is the
basis for both the Third and Fourth Amendments in the Bill of Rights. These protect Americans in their places of
residence. The British honored and respected the
inviolability private living spaces.
"The
poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It
may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may
enter; the rain may enter; but the
King of England cannot enter - all his force dares not cross the threshold of
the ruined tenement!"
William
Pitt 1st Earl of Chatham
Speech
in Parliament against an excise tax on perry and cider – 1763
Our Constitution and the
ancient legal traditions that precede it acknowledged the sanctity of the home
so much so that the world’s most powerful man cannot enter uninvited. If that be so, then it should also stand the
householder should be able to invite whomever he so chooses into his home and
to determine the conditions of entry.
He may throw a pot-luck party
and require all who enter to bring a dish.
He may throw a masquerade ball and insist that all guests come in
costume. He may permit his adult
children to live in his home but demand that they pay rent or contribute to the
payment of bills. He may allow his kids’
boy/girl-friends to sleep over but not in the same room. He may forbid alcohol consumption or indoor
smoking. He may respectfully ask those
with whom he disagrees to leave. He may
in engage in any sort of erotic escapades that float his boat with one or more
consenting adults.
To a limited extent, the
protections that an American enjoys in his home are also extended to his motor
vehicle. He is protected from
unreasonable search and seizures. He may
allow any consenting adult whom he so chooses to ride as a passenger in his conveyance.
It would seems as plain as day
that an owner may invite whomever he pleases to stay in his home or to ride in
his car. One would think. However, songstress Cyndi Lauper, was dead
on in singing that money changes everything.
The emergent sharing economy
is under fierce attack
from local monopolists and the politicians that protect and profit from
them.
The
sharing economy empowers everyday people to make a buck from assets that they
own that are just lying there doing nothing – things like empty bedrooms
and the car sitting in the driveway.
However, rather than posting a handmade sign on community bulletin
boards, mobile apps have created and coordinated a marketplace of millions of
buyers and sellers. Airbnb
is the leader in the residential space,
Uber in ridesharing.
In city after city, cabbies,
limo drivers and hoteliers
are turning their friends in government to squelch the average guy and gal
in the street from competing with them.
The main claim of established licensed operators is that they are
subject to regulations and taxes that ride and room sharers bypass.
On the surface this seems like
an unfair advantage that the sharing economy players have over their
traditional rivals. However, it is
essential to understand that regulation, licenses and fees are only barriers to
keep small, underfunded and under-lawyered startups on the sidelines. They only masquerade as “consumer
protection”.
America’s Founding Fathers
were students of John Locke who taught that sole purpose of government was to
uphold individual liberty by protecting private property. He wrote:
“The supreme power cannot take from any man
any part of his property without his own consent: for the preservation of
property being the end of government, and that for which men enter into society.”
By barring average citizens
from disposing of the spare rooms in their homes and empty seats in their cars
as they see fit, the government nullifies its raison d’etre of defending property rights in order squelch
competition for its A-List clientele.
Uber and its drivers, Airbnb
and its innkeepers are doing more than making money on underemployed
assets. They are fighting for the
essential liberty that America was founded to preserve. They are defending our little castles from
being overrun by crony kings and two-bit tyrants.
Liberty before all! Liberty above all! Liberty Uber Alles!
Related
Posts:
The Hook
Up Truck
Burgers
and Bullets
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Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction." - Paul Simon
Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong direction." - Paul Simon
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