Phony Property Rights Logic

I just got off the phone with an aide in Senator John Cornyn’s DC office. I called Cornyn (202-224-2934), and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as well (202-224-5922), about two issues: S. 1915 (the Virgie S. Arden American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) and S. 3931 (the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006). The purpose of my calling them was to urge them both to vote against S. 3931 and to vote in favor of S. 1915.

With respect to the Virgie S. Arden American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S. 1915), the aide I spoke with in Senator Hutchison’s office told me that Hutchison didn’t as yet have a position (at least not a public one) on that bill. I guess there may be some hope, then, that Senator Hutchison may yet be persuaded to vote in favor of this bill. I’d encourage folks to please take the time to call and/or write Senator Hutchison urging her to support S. 1915. (Her mailing address is: The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison, 284 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510.)

Senator Cornyn, on the other hand, has an absolute terrible position on S. 1915: he’s not in favor of it because it would interfere with an individual’s private property rights to dispose of their property any way they wish to.

Ah, pardon me, but that’s nothing but horseshit, Senator Cornyn. We have any number of laws in this country that regulate how we may or may not dispose of our “private property”--like these two laws in Tyler, Texas:

UNLAWFUL DISPOSAL OF USED TIRES
It is illegal to dispose of used automobile or tractor tires in any location that is not with a tire distributor or Solid Waste facility.

The penalty range depends on the volume. Fines are from $50 to $1,000 and 6 months in jail for the first offense and up to $10,000 fine and 2 years in jail for subsequent offenses

UNLAWFUL DISPOSAL OF USED CAR (LEAD ACID) BATTERIES
It is illegal to discard used car batteries at any location that is not an approved recycling center for used batteries. This includes but is not limited to batteries left on ground, placed within household trash or placed in dumpsters.

The penalty is up to a $2,000 fine for first offense and up to $4,000 fine and one year in jail for second offense.

Given Cornyn’s silly view of our “right to dispose of our private property as we wish,” we could just all go to Cornyn’s home and dump our old batteries and tires on his front lawn. Is that a correct interpretation, Senator?

Or how about the over 3 billion syringes used each year outside health care facilities that are disposed of in the general waste stream in the United States? Can the owner of that private property just dispose of it without regard to the health and welfare of everyone? Of course not. And the reason is that various regulations, like these in the Seattle area, regulate the disposal of that private property.

Another hole in Cornyn’s silly logic is that horse slaughtering provides a certain and quick way for horse thieves to dispose of private property stolen from someone else. Data gathered by Stolen Horse International, the largest organization that assists owners in the recovery of stolen horses, shows that approximately 60% of horses stolen are killed at slaughter plants. (The total number of horses stolen each year are difficult to come by, apparently because most states, like Texas, do not specify the species on official reports of livestock thefts. Some estimates, however, are that 40,000 to 55,000 horses are stolen each year in this country and slaughter is an easy way for a horse thief to make a quick $300-700 on a stolen horse--and the evidence is destroyed at the slaughter house.)

According to the USDA, more than 94,000 horses were slaughtered in 2005. (This does not include the thousands of horses that are exported to Mexico to be slaughtered each year, or the thousands exported to Canada.) While it is illegal to sell horsemeat in this country, it is not illegal (except in the state of California) to slaughter horses and ship the meat abroad. Horse slaughter exists in the United States for one reason and one reason only: for the sole purpose of providing horsemeat for human consumption in foreign markets.

A free society’s culture determines its laws. Americans very clearly prefer that our society not slaughter or eat animals that we have domesticated, such as dogs, cats, and horses. If another society wants to eat horses, that’s their call, but this country shouldn’t have a damn thing to do with providing horses to them for that purpose.

Please contact your two senators and urge them to vote IN FAVOR of the Virgie S. Arden American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, S. 1915.