On the Problem of Property

Property and Freedom are inseparable. This was the message of the founding grandfathers such as John Locke. It was something that our founding fathers clearly understood, and it was badly misunderstood by the French Revolutionaries.

When a government protects individual property, it protects individual freedom. This statement would almost summarize the overarching philosophy that guided the birth of our constitution.

Having stated some simple fundamentals that most all conservatives know well, I want to wander for a minute before getting to the problem of property that threatens our freedom. I’ve never been a great mathematician but I love the concepts of math, particularly calculus. The concept of limits that calculus is built on is fascinating. A very simple example of limits is that if you take a number n, in the equation 1/n as n approaches infinity, the limit for the equation is zero.

What does this have to do with anything at all :-)

In corporate law, corporations are treated as having an infinite lifespan. Individual CEOs can certainly destroy corporations with utter greed and gross mismanagement as with Lehman Brothers, but even in that process all valuable corporate assets are merged into another corporation. So think about limits for a moment. If corporations have an infinite life span while individuals have an 80 year life span, What happens to property over time?

It’s almost as simple as the 1/n problem I just talked about. The limit over time is that corporations will own all property and individuals will own none. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that. Individuals “harvest” off of corporations and therefore property is retained by fewer and fewer people.

Unless of course you have your head completely in the sand conservatives and liberals alike know in there gut that this is what’s happening. As just a couple of examples for those who may have slept through it all, we now have about four major investment firms that control our currency (which I’ll talk about in another blog) and we now have basically four major corporations controlling our food chain with Monsanto even seeking control over our seeds!

As fewer and fewer people retain more and more property what becomes of freedom? Freedom approaches Zero.

This is the problem of property that every conservative ought to be mindful of.

If conservatives don’t begin to examine how we need to restructure and improve our corporations, aristocracy of a corporate form will continue to destroy middle class America and socialism will rush to fill the void.

Should I restate that in a different way? Conservatives prove themselves to be fools in 'fighting' against the 'cause' of Socialism. Because Socialism is a symptom not a cause. The cause of growing socialism is Aristocracy in a new form. The very same cause that fired the Revolutionary War.

So conservatives have two choices. Fight Aristocracy and defend freedom by properly protecting property or let the modern French Revolutionists fight Aristocracy while conservative balance the budget.

Since Socialism is all about redistributing property, it might well be said that for the many, freedom has been at least in some sense regained. They will have government controlled property, but it will at least be a form of property.

Think about it.