Well, at the Wall Street Journal, a synapse just twitched. On December 27, the Journal editorial page carried an article by the popular libertarian author James Bovard, which succinctly describes the threat. Property rights are too important to cast overboard with each new passing political frenzy. In any case, it remains to be seen whether the private property lobbies in Washington are going to sleep through this. At least the Journal gave them a wake up call.
Experience says that alarm clocks have no effect on flatliners.
And the clergy will be silent while the sick and dying fall under Dan Lungren's gubernatorial campaign. Our lights are on, but nobody's home. Until a decade or two ago, such laws targeted primarily customs violators, but today more than 100 federal laws authorize federal agents to confiscate private property allegedly involved in violations of statutes on wildlife, gambling, narcotics, immigration, money laundering, etc. The vast expansion of government's forfeiture power epitomizes the demise of property rights in modem America. Federal agents can confiscate private property with no court order and no proof of legal violations.