Rent control and the Rule of Law

President Biden's rent control scheme is not serious policy. It is a cynical ploy to bribe voters, and it violates the United States Constitution.

Note: I sent this to President Biden on July 21. This was before he dropped out of the race for President.

President Biden,

I am disturbed by your proposal to enact nationwide rent control. As a citizen who values our democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law, I urge you to abandon this proposal.

First, we should protect our democracy. This means that local and state government should handle housing policy. By proposing a top-down solution from one city on the East Coast for a nation of 350 million people that stretches across the continent, you are short-circuiting the will of voters in thousands of communities and fifty state legislatures. Democracy means letting local communities decide for themselves what their housing policies will be.

There are many good reasons to oppose rent control, but the policy arguments should be irrelevant to submission to the proper governing authority: The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The federal government has no authority to implement a nationwide rent control scheme, no matter what "tools" are used to have a national policy governing the contracts signed by consenting adults in thousands of local communities all over the nation. You took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," which means not further expanding the federal government's authority beyond its constitutional limits.

Finally, President Biden, I cannot help but notice the timing of this proposal: When you are behind in the polls and many experts expect Donald Trump to win a second term. You had three years to propose national rent control and only now roll that proposal out? This looks like a cynical political ploy to bribe voters, because that is exactly what it is.

President Biden, at a time when there are too many politicians who are more interested in headlines and "trending" on social media than implementing sound public policy, you could have been a leader. Proposing nationwide rent control is not the act of a leader, but of a follower. It is unfortunate that you have chosen to go along with the crowd.