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208 lines
12 KiB
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<xml><p>THE SANCTITY OF PRIVATE PROPERTY--PART 2</p>
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<p>By JACOB G. HORNBERGER</p>
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<p>The last thing which <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> of today wish to face is that
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they have abandoned the principles of private property on
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which <ent type='GPE'>the United</ent> States were founded. In last August's Freedom
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Daily, I pointed to two examples of where the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people
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have permitted their public officials to assume absolute and
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total control over private property: income taxation and
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licensing of occupations. Let us examine two additional
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examples to assist us in destroying the myth of the sanctity
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of private property in 20th-century <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>: international
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trade and the oil business.</p>
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<p>One of the favorite pastimes of <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> is to look down
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their noses at the socialist systems which are now crumbling
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all over the world. <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> honestly believe that the
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<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> system of "free enterprise" has prevailed in the
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battle of "capitalism" vs. socialism; and they believe that
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the world should now simply copy the "private property" system
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of the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people.</p>
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<p>But what is it about the socialist countries which <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent>
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find so objectionable? After all, the socialist nations embody
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much of that which <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> would never consider abandoning
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in the U.S.: free housing and medical care for the poor, the
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prohibition of private citizens from gaining significantly
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high amounts of wealth, free schooling for all children, and
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inexpensive food for everyone.</p>
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<p>But one of the most significant characteristics of the
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socialist systems is government control over a citizen's
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ability to sell goods and services to people in other parts of
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the world. In other words, the essence of the socialist
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societies in regard to international trade is that the
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government reigns supreme over the individual and his
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property; that is, all property in the nation, even when legal
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title is nominally held in the name of private citizens, is
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either owned or controlled by the political authorities.</p>
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<p>One of the best examples of this lies ninety miles away from
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<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> shores. In <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>, a nation guided by the principles of
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free public housing, free medical care, free public schooling,
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and inexpensive food for the populace, people are not
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permitted to sell goods and services to others around the
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world without the permission of their government officials.
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The government takes the position that all property ultimately
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belongs to "the people" and, therefore, subject to political
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control.</p>
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<p><ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> rightfully object to the <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>n way of life. But they
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have a terrible time recognizing that these same principles
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are found in 20th-century <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>. Like his <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>n counterpart,
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no <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> is free to sell, without the permission of his
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public officials, what supposedly belongs to him to people
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around the world. If an <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>, for example, decides to sell
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a quantity of wheat or penicillin
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to the <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>n people, he is prohibited from doing so by his own
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politicians and bureaucrats. In fact, if an <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> even
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travels to <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent> without permission of his public officials, he
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is incarcerated and fined. This was exemplified last year when
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an <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> fisherman was actually sent to jail by <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>
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authorities for organizing a fishing trip to <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>.</p>
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<p>Now, the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> government officials justify this
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prohibition on the basis of the <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>n ruler, <ent type='PERSON'>Fidel Castro</ent>,
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being a bad communist (as compared to the apparently "good"
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communists of <ent type='LOC'>Red China</ent> with whom <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> are permitted to
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trade). But the problem lies not with the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>
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government's determination of who are good communists and who
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are bad ones. The problem lies in the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people
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permitting their politicians and bureaucrats to assume and
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exercise the same power over their lives and property as that
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found in such nations as <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent> and <ent type='GPE'>China</ent>.</p>
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<p>And despite the fact that the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> government maintains
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ultimate control over the buying and selling decisions of the
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<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people, <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> continue to believe that when
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<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> government officials have this control, it is a
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private property system; and that only when <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>n, <ent type='NORP'>Chinese</ent>, or
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<ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent> government officials have it, is it considered a
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socialist system.</p>
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<p>What would be a true private property system? One in which the
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individual is free to buy and sell goods and services anywhere
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in the world without the interference of his public officials.
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And it would be a way of life in which people were trading not
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because the politicians and bureaucrats permitted them to do
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so but rather because they have the absolute right to sell
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whatever belongs to them to anyone anywhere in the world.</p>
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<p>A second example of this myth of private property in <ent type='GPE'>America</ent>:
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oil and gas. Despite their commitment to "free enterprise" and
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"private property," the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people believe that whenever
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a person owns what other <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> need, the politicians and
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bureaucrats must take control over it and redistribute it to
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the needy.</p>
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<p>The best illustration of this tendency toward the socialist
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principle of public ownership or control over the means of
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production concerns oil and gas. Whenever the owner of oil or
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gas decides to sell his product at a higher price than that
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which <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> consumers decide is "reasonable," the
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politicians and bureaucrats, as a result of political pressure
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from the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people, threaten not only to prohibit him,
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through price controls, from doing so, but also to take away,
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through a windfall profits tax, whatever "unjust" profits the
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producer has made. In other words, while proclaiming the
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superiority of the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> "free enterprise" system over
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socialist systems in which governments maintain extensive
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controls over prices and profits, the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people approve
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of these same socialist principles in their own nation. But,
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of course, they do so under the rubric of the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>
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"private property" system rather than under the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>
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"socialist" system.</p>
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<p>One of the ironies is that during depressed economic
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conditions, when some oil companies go broke or bankrupt, the
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<ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people take the attitude of, "That's their problem.
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They chose to go into the oil business, and they can't cry
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when it fails to pan out." But when conditions change, and
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demand for the product suddenly increases, <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> take the
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same attitude as their counterparts in <ent type='GPE'>China</ent>, the <ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent>
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Union, and <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>: "It's not fair for others to have more when I
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have less. I need the oil and gas. He's gouging me. I am
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'forced' to pay these high prices. Take his product and his
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income away from him and give it to me."</p>
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<p>And another irony is that when price controls are instituted,
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the problems which arise from those controls are never blamed
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on the controls themselves. Instead, just like in other
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socialist countries, the problems are always blamed on others,
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usually "the evil, greedy, profit-seeking, bourgeoisie swine
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of a capitalist pig."</p>
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<p>The best example of this was the price controls imposed on the
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oil industry by the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> government in the 1970s. What was
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the result of those controls? The same result found in the
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<ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent> Union, <ent type='GPE'>China</ent>, and <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent> when price controls are imposed
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there: shortages and long lines. But did the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people
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blame them on the political controls themselves? Of course
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not. That would have been considered unpatriotic. So, the
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shortages and long lines were blamed on <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> oil-producers. And how do <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> explain the fact that no
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shortages and long lines have developed as a result of the
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recent <ent type='LOC'>Middle East</ent> crisis? They are unable to do so because
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they have no idea only political control over prices, and not
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private owners and producers of oil and gas, create shortages
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and long lines.</p>
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<p>The major disaster of price controls and windfall profits, of
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course, is the abandonment of the sanctity of private
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property. But the secondary disaster is that the economic
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situation always becomes worse as a result of the political
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intervention. People do not realize that prices are simply the
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market's method of providing signals in the same way that a
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thermometer uses temperature to provide signals. High prices
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are simply the market's way of telling people to produce more
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and consume less. But rather than permit the signals to guide
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the actions of producers and consumers, the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> people
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pressure their rulers to break the thermometer. Rather than
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cope with the bad news which the messenger has brought, people
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instead choose to kill him. And the inevitable result is just
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like that found in socialist countries everywhere: shortages,
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long lines, and general market chaos.</p>
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<p>What <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> of today recognize so well with respect to
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other nations, but unfortunately refuse to see in their own
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country, is that people can never be free whenever public
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officials maintain ultimate control over the disposition of
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their property. Like their counterparts in countries all over
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the world, unfortunately <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> have a terribly difficult
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time "letting go" of the apparent security of political
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control over the means of production. Proclaiming the virtues
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of freedom and private property for people in other parts of
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the world, <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> are terribly fearful of trying it for
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themselves. And it is this paralyzing fear of freedom that
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causes <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent> to continue their deep emotional and
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psychological commitment to the 20th-century myth of <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>
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"free enterprise" and "private property."</p>
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<p>When will private property truly be sanctified not only in the
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U.S. but in other nations as well? Only when the time comes
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when people stop believing that they have a right to take away
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what belongs to someone else. There are fewer more destructive
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forces than the belief that it is acceptable to covet and
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steal what belongs to another as long as it is done through
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the political process. Whether it involves a person's income,
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his occupational pursuits, his goods and services, or his
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trading decisions, the succumbing to the urge to take from
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those who have more will always result in the impoverishment
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or destruction of the people of a nation regardless of whether
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they are <ent type='NORP'>Romans</ent>, <ent type='NORP'>British</ent>, <ent type='NORP'>Soviet</ent>, <ent type='NORP'>Chinese</ent>, <ent type='GPE'>Cuba</ent>ns, and, yes,
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even <ent type='NORP'>Americans</ent>. As our <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> ancestors understood so well,
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only those nations which have a political system which
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protects free economic activity are those nations in which the
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citizenry are blessed with peace, prosperity, and harmony.</p>
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<p>Mr. <ent type='PERSON'>Hornberger</ent> is founder and president of <ent type='ORG'>The Future</ent> of
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Freedom Foundation, P.O. Box 9752, <ent type='GPE'>Denver</ent>, CO 80209.</p>
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<p>------------------------------------------------------------
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From the January 1991 issue of <ent type='ORG'>FREEDOM DAILY</ent>,
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Copyright (c) 1991, <ent type='ORG'>The Future</ent> of Freedom Foundation,
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PO Box 9752, <ent type='GPE'>Denver</ent>, <ent type='GPE'>Colorado</ent> 80209, 303-777-3588.
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Permission granted to reprint; please give appropriate credit
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and send one copy of reprinted material to the Foundation.
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</p></xml> |