The journey of a 1,000 miles
Conservatives’ heroic Founders myth makes it difficult to understand what they deliberately created. The myth of men of extraordinary ability struggling to advance individual liberty frees the public to praise their good intent despite...
For multiple reasons the Articles of Confederation were inadequate, and Shay’s Rebellion was a catalyst for change. The weakness Shay’s Rebellion revealed was that a successful revolution in one state might spread to other...
During the War of 1812 Britain offered freedom, land, and relocation to slaves who escaped to British lines and took arms against the colonists. Armed by the British, over 4,000 former slaves, the Black...
“There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,” he said. “Repeat it if you please.” “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Repeated...
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, (George Santayana).1 “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”, (Winston Churchill). “A generation which ignores history has no...
I expected to present the constraints on private property in two posts. Although readers may have quickly understood, I prattled on because they identify the obligations that come with the protection and benefits belonging...
The previous post (3.5) addressed the first two constraints on private property: (1) Foregone opportunities and (2) externalized costs (externalized negatives). This post addresses (3) The “Tragedy of the Commons”. I’ll cover (4) the...
Returning to Hobbes’ “war of all against all” emphasizes a basic point. Private property is a social invention. Without a community to support and defend private property, everything would belong to whomever is strong...
I’m easing back into the writing after the Holidays with chapter ten of the Tao Te Ching. For Lao Tsu, life had a natural flow, just as water flows downhill. Accepting water’s nature lets...
We are captives of American ideas about private property. With land we think of property as ownership rather than as exclusive right of use. Land is not the product of our labor. Nonetheless, by...
“Do people have a right to live?” People ask that question only when they have their answer, usually wrapped in fancy justifications. The blunt conservative answer is, “No!” Filmer and de Maistre demanded obedience...
