1. Here, once again, that apocryphal tale of boiling the frog: put it in cold water, and raise the temperature so slowly that it fails to recognize the threat: boiled frog.
That's what 'regulation' is....the threat is the destruction of the right to private property.
2. Why is 'private property's so important?
Before the Founders settled on 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,' ....
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase in theUnited States Declaration of Independence.[1]The phrase gives three examples of the "unalienable rights" which the Declaration says has been given to all human beings by their Creator, and for which governments are created to protect. ....In 1689, Locke argued in hisTwo Treatises of Government that political society existed for the sake of protecting "property", which he defined as a person's "life, liberty, and estate"
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3. While our founding documents memorialize our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the Virginia Declaration preceded it by several months. In same, George Mason had written “…the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.…” Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
4. Private property is the physical dimension of capitalism, the free market.
"A fundamental principle of our society is property rights. In nations were property rights have not been formally established, the costs of legally validating ownership of a home, a farm, or a business may be prohibitively expensive relative to the average income level, a crippling handicap for those seeking to rise from poverty to prosperity. Without property rights, one with entrepreneurial talents loses the access to other people’s money: homes or other assets not recognized by a legal system cannot be used as collateral."
Sowell, “Economic Facts & Fallacies,” chapter seven.
a. Even OWS, who oppose private property can learn: “Who’d have thought that a crowd of people demanding the seizure of wealth from banks, corporations, and the wealthy might also have a few thieves? I’m shocked,shocked to find theft occurring in a group that has hijacked private property it refuses to leave. I can’t imagine that a crowd that demands free higher education and the forgiveness of tens of thousands in student debt would also think of someone’s Mac or an iPhone as equally as communal as a college education…. Law and order! Get tough on crime! Defend private property!” Celebrated redistributionists discover healthy respect for private property - Hot Air
5. Even Liberal political philosopher John Rawls agreed, as he offered the idea that the two basic principles necessary for a just society:
a. Political liberty (i.e., to vote and run for office), freedom of speech and assembly, liberty of conscience, freedom of personal property; and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
b. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that (Rawls, “A Theory of Justice,” 1971, p.303): they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society (the difference principle). A Theory of Justice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So....we've established the essential nature of private property in a free society. Compare same to a feudal or communist one.
Which would you choose?
That's what 'regulation' is....the threat is the destruction of the right to private property.
2. Why is 'private property's so important?
Before the Founders settled on 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,' ....
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase in theUnited States Declaration of Independence.[1]The phrase gives three examples of the "unalienable rights" which the Declaration says has been given to all human beings by their Creator, and for which governments are created to protect. ....In 1689, Locke argued in hisTwo Treatises of Government that political society existed for the sake of protecting "property", which he defined as a person's "life, liberty, and estate"
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3. While our founding documents memorialize our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the Virginia Declaration preceded it by several months. In same, George Mason had written “…the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.…” Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
- The emphasis on property came from philosopher John Locke, who believed that all men had the natural rights to acquire, protect, and dispose of property.
- Jefferson preferred the shift from material property and toward the pursuit of happiness: by such, morality became uppermost.
"A fundamental principle of our society is property rights. In nations were property rights have not been formally established, the costs of legally validating ownership of a home, a farm, or a business may be prohibitively expensive relative to the average income level, a crippling handicap for those seeking to rise from poverty to prosperity. Without property rights, one with entrepreneurial talents loses the access to other people’s money: homes or other assets not recognized by a legal system cannot be used as collateral."
Sowell, “Economic Facts & Fallacies,” chapter seven.
a. Even OWS, who oppose private property can learn: “Who’d have thought that a crowd of people demanding the seizure of wealth from banks, corporations, and the wealthy might also have a few thieves? I’m shocked,shocked to find theft occurring in a group that has hijacked private property it refuses to leave. I can’t imagine that a crowd that demands free higher education and the forgiveness of tens of thousands in student debt would also think of someone’s Mac or an iPhone as equally as communal as a college education…. Law and order! Get tough on crime! Defend private property!” Celebrated redistributionists discover healthy respect for private property - Hot Air
5. Even Liberal political philosopher John Rawls agreed, as he offered the idea that the two basic principles necessary for a just society:
a. Political liberty (i.e., to vote and run for office), freedom of speech and assembly, liberty of conscience, freedom of personal property; and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
b. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that (Rawls, “A Theory of Justice,” 1971, p.303): they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society (the difference principle). A Theory of Justice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So....we've established the essential nature of private property in a free society. Compare same to a feudal or communist one.
Which would you choose?
