Private property is often held up as one of the founding principles of the United States. But private property doesn’t exist, the state owns all property. This is why armed thugs with badges can order you to evacuate your home and then occupy and ransack it:
Franz said it all started shortly after overhearing a fight at her neighbor’s house across the street Sunday. A short time later, the SWAT team swarmed her neighborhood.
“The cop goes ‘You all need to leave, you can’t be in your house,'” said Franz.
That happened around 1 p.m. About six hours later, deputies cleared the scene and she went back home. But something was off when she walked through the door.
“I stopped, I froze because I realized somebody had messed with my TV,” said Franz.
Franz said her blinds were opened, her Xbox and TV were disconnected, and a drape over her bedroom window was thrown on the floor.
At first she thought it was a burglar but then realized nothing was missing.
[…]
Franz said she called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to complain.
“He did call me back and he said ‘Yeah Ms. Franz my men did come in your house,'” said Franz.
What else could Franz have done? Had she refused to leave the SWAT officers would likely have kidnapped her or executed her on the spot. Legally speaking there probably isn’t much she can do since, as the story points out, there are exceptions to the warrant requirement for officers entering a home. Those exceptions aren’t clear cut and the police typically get off without punishment even when they do something illegal.
This story further reinforces the lesson that the state owns all property and we’re simply allowed to rent some of it. The second we fail to pay our rent, err, property tax or a costume-clad thug with a badge wants it we must either leave or face the state’s violence.