Today’s topic is squatters.
I’m not sure why there are suddenly a spate of stories about squatters in the news, but I’m sure of one thing: allowing strangers to help themselves to other’s houses is a big red flag warning that society is rapidly deteriorating.
At the risk of sounding like an old guy saying, “In my day, this never would have been allowed to go on,” let me say – as a youthful, vibrant 60-is-the-new-40 guy, “In my day this never would have been allowed to go on.”
But the issue isn’t just chronological, it’s also geographical, cultural, and political.
I grew up in a series of small towns in Illinois, and while I can’t imagine someone forcing their way into one of my relatives’ houses and claiming it for his own, I can somehow exactly imagine the reactions of my uncles, dad or grandpa — and possibly my grandma, and one of my orneriest aunts – if that had ever happened.
It would go exactly like this:
10-year-old me (bursting through my grandpa’s screen door): Gramps, some guy let himself into Aunt Carol’s house and says that it’s his now!
Grandpa (putting down his mason jar of corn liquor): How big is he?
Me: Why?
Grandpa: Cause I need to know whether to get my axe handle or my gun. Also, call your dad, Bob, Ray and Bill, and tell them to meet me at Carol’s. Oh, and call Doc Johnson, too.
Me: Why?
Grandpa: Cause none of us went to medical school, so we don’t know how to patch up gunshot wounds or remove axe handles from arses.
And, scene.
But again, it’s not just chronological. It’s also geographical – I’ll bet there’s no rash of squatting in rural areas or red states, unless it’s in a big blue city in a red state – and cultural – it’s not happening in areas with lots of cohesive families and an appreciation of the second amendment.
The umbrella stretching over all of those factors, though, is politics. Squatting can only happen in an area where soft-on-crime, anti-gun, and coercive, sclerotic, big government policies have taken hold and created a backwards moral system that punishes law-abiding citizens and rewards law breakers.
The contrast is clear from two recent examples. You have probably seen the story of the middle-class Brooklynite who inherited her mother’s house, but found several squatters living in it when she went there. So shooed a couple of them out and barely finished changing the locks when a third squatter barged back in, insisting that he lived there.
When she pushed back, he called the cops, and they ended up arresting her for changing the locks on her own house, and told her she’d have to go through landlord/tenant court to get him out. Which will take months or even a year and cost her tons of money, while the deadbeat squatter just laughed.
Meanwhile, in the free state of DeSantis-land, things went a little differently when a recidivist Biden voter (I’m guessing about that. But I’m also right.) named Brandon Harris was serially breaking into homes. He had at least 17 prior arrests, plus multiple outstanding felony warrants at the time.
As the cops headed for the neighborhood, one homeowner shot at Harris several times, but tragically missed. The cops arrived and arrested Harris, and the local sheriff gave a press conference shortly afterwards.
I swear I am not making up this exact quote from that Sheriff’s press conference:
“As to the person… we don’t know what homeowner—which homeowner shot at him. I guess they think that they did something wrong, which they did not. If someone is breaking into your house, you’re more than welcome to shoot him in Santa Rosa County. We prefer that you do, actually. So whoever that was, you’re not in trouble. Come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday. If you take that, you’ll shoot a lot better, and hopefully you’ll save the taxpayers money.”
Yes!! If Trump hasn’t settled on a VP pick yet, may I suggest this guy?
As a small-time landlord, this issue is especially personal for me. Over the last 25 years, I’ve managed to buy and fix up three rental houses. They’ve slowly appreciated, and now they constitute the bulk of our retirement income, and an inheritance for our daughters.
I would never have bought them if I thought that after years of patience, work and hassle, some lazy grifter could squat in one of them, and I’d be forced to wage a court battle and watch while he tore up the place for months on end. I’m not a violent person… but I’d be willing to learn.
And then the cops would arrive, and I’d have to try to come up with an explanation for how the squatter fell down the stairs and impaled himself on that axe handle.
In that sense, the leftist instinct to empathize with and go easy on criminals leads to many Kyle Rittenhouses, and a lot of other vigilante action. Bad government incentivizes vigilantes, and when it does, my sympathy is with the vigilantes.
If you don’t like that – I’m talking to you, progressives who are very concerned about the civil rights of “protestors” (often rioters) – you need to support your police. Fund them, train them, give them moral and legal support, and yes, hold them accountable when they behave badly.
But without funding and community support, the police will absent themselves – either actively, as when they quit or retire, or passively, as when they stay in their cars and allow social rot, especially in neighborhoods where they know they’ll be attacked by the politicians and populace no matter what they do.
I can’t see myself ever living in a blue state – to paraphrase an old joke about Texans, “I wasn’t born in Florida, but I got here as soon as I could.” – but if I were forced to (because of family or some other exigency) I sure wouldn’t invest in real estate there. And because many millions of wise Americans feel the same, they are leaving blue states and counties for red ones.
As that shift happens, the quality of life in blue areas, on many fronts – crime, taxation, unemployment, lousy schools, etc. – is deteriorating.
UNEXPECTEDLY!
Cause and effect, reaping and sowing, schadenfreude and karma – they all work, and they are mortal enemies of leftist governing philosophy.
In the meantime, Florida just passed an anti-squatting law. It preserves the rights of legitimate tenants to legally contest evictions, but in obvious squatting situations, it enables cops to immediately evict squatters and charge them with crimes. Ron DeSantis is going to sign it shortly, and it goes into effect on July 1st.
Man I hope we can someday have that guy as our president!
Hamas delenda est!
Martin Simpson 