Russ Harding, former director of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality and current director of the Mackinac Center’s Property Rights Network, was invited to Hillsdale College by a group of students who wanted to learn about what’s going in in Michigan with property rights.
After the Kelo decision, Michigan citizens amended the state constitution to strengthen protections for property owners from government use of eminent domain. But, as Russ shared, government isn’t through taking our property. They don’t have to use eminent domain to take the value and use of the property, they can simply and often arbitrarily tell property owners that they cannot use their land. All kinds of crazy (and costly) requirements have been put on citizens for pieces of property deemed “wetlands” that are sometimes no more than a manmade mud puddle. Check out this site for some stories.
Anyway, as Russ spoke I Twittered some highlights, including, “It cost $160,000 more to develop the same restaurant in Michigan than Indiana based solely on regulations”, and this great line by Russ, “I support green belts; I’m just opposed to stealing them.”
The 2008 Students for Freedom Conference just keeps getting better!
Saturday, November 8 at the University of Michigan we’re hosting the first Midwest regional conference to equip freedom loving students with the tools and expertise they need to successfully advance freedom on campus and beyond. Panels of awesome speakers will cover tips for effective writing, speaking, blogging, video, political action, academic work, and much much more. The conference is only $20, which includes lots of free stuff and three square meals.
The following speakers are confirmed for the event:
Keynote speaker:
Larry Reed, President, The Foundation for Economic Education.
The Fraser Institute is hosting a new Student Video Contest and students are eligible to win $10,000 in cash and electronics prizes. The topic is: Incentives Matter - Fixing Health Care in Canada.
Video concept papers are due Tuesday, September 30th!
Students must submit a short concept paper by September 30th and then post their video on YouTube by October 31st. Friends and classmates can vote for the best video, and there are lots of prizes to be won. Canadian and foreign students are welcome to enter – the economic analysis is the same for everybody! Full contest details can be found here.
