----- The right to private property

 

In reply to Roshei Ya on the right to private property, everyone accepts a natural right to life; but it's useless if you don't have control over the means necessary to defend it, that is, private property.  Property is either created by the person (works of art) or earned  (labour, for money). Either way, it's his to dispose of as he sees fit. Some say the right to property rests with the community, using the State as ultimate authority over its distribution. That leaves the individual with no control (right) over his life.

As to the Bible: “Thou shalt not steal” establishes that a right to private property exists; to take it, without permission, is wrong. It also speaks out against miserliness and covetousness. On slavery, the Bible's “Thou shalt not kill” prohibits all violence against another, except in self-defence. To deprive someone of the means of his self-preservation (slavery) is violence, thus wrong. So, the Bible doesn't tell us “we humans can own anything and everything, including other humans”. But, it does tell us that to envy others for what they own is wrong.

That the right to private property is not specified in our Constitution was the work of a statist majority (Parliament, 1982). They preferred not to draw attention to their desire to supplant private property and the primacy of the individual, with the welfare of the collectivity and the over-arching authority of the State, a conflict of interest, if there ever was one. Individualists, unlike collectivists, don't consider that society has a right to saddle citizens with the responsibility to ensure the welfare of their neighbours. However, they may well accept, for themselves, a moral obligation to do so.

The right to private property doesn't make people mean or miserly. Most accept, for practical reasons and the common good, limitations on the use and taxes on the value of their property. They don't agree with, but do accept, many laws, rules and regulations that intrusive, over-bearing States impose upon them. In closing, if you need more concrete evidence of a natural right to private property, watch a half-dozen male toddlers at play.

Ronald Lefebvre

Aylmer