Private Property Initiates Force
The cornerstone of radical libertarian thinking is the idea that private property does not initiate force. Consequently, the radical libertarian believes that he or she can simultaneously believe in private property while opposing the initiation of force. But since private property does in fact initiate force, radical libertarianism must either be rejected or at least be grounded on some other principle.
posted by modlib at 12:33 PM
3 Comments:
If you are using a piece of ground, nobody else can. If you insist on controlling the ground permanently, all members of the community are deprived from ever using it. If the government enforces your claim to permanently control the land, it is initiating force.
Do you pay rent to the American Indians? If not, and if you consider your ownership of land to be something the government should defend, then you agree with me.
What does homesteading have to do with modern society? There are very few areas left to "homestead". Very little of the real estate owned by people today was homesteaded by an original owner. If we applied the same policy of homesteading to inventions, then patents would last forever, and we would have trillionaires. Some people would favor this idea; others would oppose it. It the government enforces unlimited patents, then it is initiating force, since there is nothing in nature which says that there must be patents.
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