A Name Change

When I began this blog my primary purpose was to prepare for the upcoming debate over property rights in Houston. Consequently, I named the blog Houston Property Rights. In the months since, it has become obvious to me that the issues that confront Houston are much more universal in nature.

While I knew this before, writing a blog has made it even more apparent. Some of this resulted from the reach of a blog, and some resulted from the property rights issues that confront Americans in other cities. The name Houston Property Rights no longer seems quite fitting.

Therefore, I have decided to rename the blog Live Oaks. I have a number of reasons for this.

• The name is a little catchier than Houston Property Rights. My initial goal was intellectual activism, and that remains the case. But a catchier name won’t hurt the cause.
• I love live oaks. I have 11 in my yard. They are tall, stately trees, with the highest density of any native American tree.
• Live oaks, like our freedom, are fragile. Hurricane Ike demonstrated that. Several in my neighborhood were uprooted.

A song—“The Trees”-- from the band Rush captures this last point:

There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.

The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.

There is trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream "Oppression!"
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights."
The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light.
"Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.

My goal with this blog is to defend the oak trees of the world, and so, the new name is very appropriate. The oak trees of the world are the men and women who are producers. They are the men and women who do not scream oppression when things don't go their way, but simply want to be left free to pursue their values. They are the men and women who do not live for others, or ask others to live for them.