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From: faustus@ucbvax.UUCP (Wayne Christopher)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Rent Control, etc.
Message-ID: <715@ucbvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 22-Apr-84 19:55:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.715
Posted: Sun Apr 22 19:55:32 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 14-May-84 00:16:20 EDT
References: <3276@fortune.UUCP>
Organization: U.C. Berkeley
Lines: 39

It's one thing to say, "I belive that this is a good idea", but
quite another to actually come up with good reasons for
supporting the idea.  Is rent control a good idea or not?  What
reasons are there for supporting it? As far as I can tell, 
the only reason for rent control is to ensure that everybody
gets reasonable housing (none of this "inaliable right" garbage -- 
people support things like this either because they are getting
the short end of the stick or because they feel guilty). What
are the alternatives? A free housing market? If that doesn't
work, then if decent housing is to be provided for people, there
will have to be some government intervention. Perhaps rent
control is the best idea, or perhaps some sort of low-priced
government-sponsored housing would do the job. 

The trouble with people who vehemently support either rent control 
or a free market is that they are too committed to the idea of
"rights". People have a right to housing, to private property,
and so forth. Where do these rights come from? I don't see
animals going around respecting each other's rights, nor many
people for that matter. A right is something that people get
together and decide that they want to claim for themselves, and
the only way that a right can exist is if they are strong enough
to preserve it. Obviously, if the government wants to tell me
what to do with my property, I can't do much about it, so where
do I get the idea that I have some right to it? Because of
something written on a piece of paper in a museum? Because of
some "social contract"?  Rights exist because everybody else
concedes them to one, and the government tends to respect them.
So if rent control is imposed, people agree that it is good, and
the government supports it, where are my rights?

So if we are to get anywhere, we are going to have to talk in
terms of goals and means, and not "rights". If something works,
it's the thing to do. What your goals are are your business. If
you can get the government to share the same goals, good for
you, but if you can't, complaining won't get you very far.

	Wayne