Private Property

Recorded 10/16/2004 at Radical Scholarship: The Guerrilla Movement for Liberty.

The newest political cliché offered up by the Republicans speaks of the need for an "Ownership Society." To those of us who support private property, it might sound good at first. But let us think about this before embracing it.

How much of the spectrum should be privatized? All of it, writes B.K. Marcus. Even the vast "beachfront property" held by the military? Yes, all of it. 

Is the state’s power of eminent domain necessary in a free society? Walter Block and Richard Epstein debate the topic.

Hernando de Soto says that the poor need property rights but he provides no theoretical grounding for such rights, writes Gabriel Calzada.

Free markets shift resources from where they are less valued to where they are most valued, benefiting consumers. When private property and free markets are allowed to operate, a natural conservation of resources occurs. Nothing is a resource unless it is useful to man.

Gary Galles draws attention to writings that heavily influenced 18th century American politics.

The judiciary's war on private property continues in Las Vegas. To borrow a line from Rush Limbaugh, the bad guys in the old west used to wear black hats, now they wear black robes.

Airline security had been imperfect, but airlines were capable of improving, and had every incentive to do so. The industry could respond to real threats without creating unnecessary passenger inconvenience. But instead, Congress, with the blessing of the White House, short circuited the market process and created a new bureaucracy.
 

The ACLU constantly files lawsuits against property owners who attempt to protect their property rights. Many of these lawsuits are supposedly to protect free speech rights. But can there be a right to freedom of speech unless that right is firmly based on property rights?