ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
October 10, 2015
This is a letter to our friends –
Private Property
You are the only person on earth. Suppose you find yourself in the midst of a fertile garden. Everything you need to sustain a long healthy life is at hand for the taking.
A state of perfect freedom. You may roam, dispose of your possessions, and yourself, as you see fit, limited only by the laws of nature. You don’t need permission, nor do you depend upon anyone else.
Now suppose another person is added. The laws of nature place additional limits upon you. Your perfect freedom must not infringe upon the other’s perfect freedom. Do not step on his toe if you do not want him to step on yours.
You both have been given irrevocable rights. (That is – There is no one to revoke them.) You have been given life. Thus you are entitled to the things that sustain your life. You must have the liberty to obtain those things (air, water, food). You and the other(s) have joint property rights to those things. When you remove a thing from the state nature left it in, it becomes exclusively your property and can nourish your body. Life, liberty, property.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I understand the original draft read, “… life, liberty, and property”. [Declaration of Independence – 1776]
“You have as much right to your property as you have property in your rights.” [author unknown]
With property rights go responsibilities. If goods you have gathered should rot in your possession, you have violated joint property rights. You also have irrevocable property rights to -, and are responsible for -, your thoughts, emotions, plans, dreams, opinions, and choices. Your most valuable property is your conscience! You should protect it with your life! If you want your thoughts, emotions, plans, dreams, opinions, choices, and conscience to be respected and protected, you must respect and protect those of others.
If a monarch, or a thug takes away your property, without your permission, he has violated your God-given liberty. American colonists were jealous of their liberty. “Taxation without representation” in the English Parliament, took colonial citizens’ property without their permission.
All that to say this- Martin Luther King lead the civil-rights movement against civil laws that discriminated against black citizens. It is my opinion that his followers carried their cause a step too far.
Public restrooms, drinking fountains, public schools, and the like, that discriminate by statute (in the authority of “We the people”) against individuals are wrong. We have no such corporate authority over one another.
On the other hand, where do “We the people” get the authority to tell a fellow citizen he may not discriminate? His thoughts, emotions, plans, dreams, opinions, choices, and conscience are his property. They must be respected and protected if any property it to be respected and protected. Civil authority that violates private property rights is “rogue authority”.
Passing civil-government laws to prevent private citizens from disposing of their possessions as they see fit is a violation of their liberty. If I bake a cake, it is my property. I should be free to sell it, or not to sell it.
In like manner, if I build a bakery, the business is my property. If I choose not to sell my goods to someone, I may not be in business long, but that is my right. By opening my business to the public, I have not forfeited my property rights.
The bus companies were private companies that discriminated. 90% of the customers, I understand, were black. When the black community chose not to ride the bus, discrimination was stopped without civil action!
Like so many righteous movements – If our enemy is unable to hold it back, he often pushes it out the other side to become tyranny. Today, because we once let civil authority invade private businesses, we have all sorts of problems. Civil government has spread its rogue authority into every area of private business. Unlike our colonial forefathers, “We the people” have submitted to tyranny.
