Property Rights Movement Roars Back To Life

After lying low in the late 1990s, the property rights movement is again an influential force from the Michigan grass roots to the Legislature. In May, supporters of property rights enacted a new state law that allows landowners along the Great Lakes shoreline to mow, bulldoze, and cut grass on property that isn't even their own. They're ready to pounce on the recommendations of Governor Jennifer Granholm's sprawl-taming Michigan Land Use Leadership Council. But legal scholars say the rhetoric used by property rights activists has scant basis in law and has instead become code for opposing most government action that advances the common good.