Zoning – A Flawed Concept

For those who wonder what zoning is really about, it is a very simple and fairly old system of governmental regulation in which the citizen pays taxes on property they own, then the government passes regulations telling them what they can and cannot do with their own property.

Listening to the advocates of zoning, you will hear vague generalities and meaningless, empty platitudes in their words. Great, but unspecified benefits will come, they say. Zoning will bring prosperity, jobs, and benefits to all. All of this they say, despite the fact that all you have to do is look to other counties to see it isn’t true. Zoning has no success stories and when advocates try to take credit for what would have happened anyway, it’s a little like someone trying to take credit for sunshine. Advocates say that if you will give up a little freedom, we offer you much protection. To which I respond with a very old and still very true cliché; as Ben Franklin so correctly observed, “Those who would exchange freedom for security will have neither”, wise advice in his time and still in ours. Thomas Jefferson said: “Private property is the foundation of all civilized societies”. The operative word here is “private”, not public. Anyone who thinks the government will take care of them will have a rude awakening. Advocates can only recommend that precious rights and freedoms of the citizens must be abridged to accomplish some illusory vision, existing only in their minds. Will your fear, or anxiety make you buy into this argument? Like anyone I have fear also, but I don’t fear the future or my neighbors; rather, I fear the zoners and my government, for my government poses by far more of a danger to my freedom and rights than my neighbors do.

The quagmire, which is zoning, can’t be adequately described in this short writing. For the Internet savvy, go to Google, type in the words “zoning” and opposition”. That search got 422,000 hits. That many people positively have something to say. Listen to them; they speak from experience, not elusive visions, plans, or vague promises of some benefit. The true experts on zoning are its victims, not its advocates.

Zoning is theft by the government of a person’s freedom. The concept of zoning is that of control and it is control only for control’s sake. There are those who believe all things should be ordered and that individual rights are less important than the “communal” or greater good of the whole.

Therefore, everything must be defined, categorized, directed, and controlled to accomplish the greater collective aim. This thinking is from a form of governance this country was dedicated against. Do we think so little of our freedom and rights that we surrender them for something so obviously not true? Can’t we understand that controlling our neighbors also means our neighbors controlling us and to control demands still greater control tomorrow than today and each day thereafter? Control is insidious and feeds on itself. Zoning is like an animal, which must grow to survive, and like a parasite, once attached, is nearly impossible to remove. Zoning in any form, by its nature, will grow over time to the worst case. The time to stop zoning is now, before it happens, and while we still can.

But oddly enough, this can only happen if we allow it, if our fears and insecurities allow it to rob us of our freedom and rights. But who knows, maybe there really is safety in a cage.

Otis J. Russell, Chairman
Citizens for Property Rights
RR# 1 Box 140
Switz City, IN 47465
812-659-3334