Property Laws… for now.

“The Right of property is the guardian of every other Right, and to deprive the people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their Liberty” Dr. Arthur Lee, 1774 from an article entitled “An Appeal to the Justice and Interests of the People of Great Britain”

We are a nation of laws… period, end of sentence. Thank you and have a nice day.

Ok I’m not done although I’m sure some are tired of me saying we are a nation of laws, however that’s what sets us apart from all other nations.

Therefore let’s take a look at property laws. The World English Dictionary says this, property: something of value, either tangible, such as land, or intangible, such as patents, copyrights, etc

Property is not just things, it’s more than that, it’s our ideas, our thoughts our money everything that belongs to us. And no one has the right to take any of it away.

“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries”; The United States Constitution Article 1 Section 8.

At my first job in a corporate office I had to sign a “Thought Clause”. This simply meant if I had any great ideas while this company employed me, the company owned my ideas. I of course used this as an excuse to be completely thoughtless, and I had a contract to prove it. But seriously, the only way the company could take my ideas was for me to give them the rights.

James Madison said this “In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.
Where there is an excess of liberty, the effect is the same, tho' from an opposite cause.

Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own.”
March 29, 1792 (Source) The Founders’ Constitution Chapter 16, Document 23.

John Locke put it like this: “Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”

The United States is a Representative Republic. Our Nation is not only founded on laws but on hiring people to decide and enforce the laws. Where do you think this idea came from? In my quest to remind you of our roots, might I suggest perhaps:

Exodus 18:17-26 (NIV 1984)17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” 24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.”

It’s right after this in the Bible in Exodus 19 that Moses goes to Mount Sinai and God gives him the Ten Commandments. So within two chapters we see the representative government and the law.

As I started thinking about the law and property rights I thought of the Ten Commandments, which prompted me to watch the movie. It’s been years and years since I had seen it. Towards the end after Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the tablets, he finds that the people have lost faith and are worshiping the golden calf. In the movie Dathan tells Moses the people no longer need him or his laws because they are now free. Moses gets angry with him and yells, “without the law there is no freedom!” and then throws the tablets at them, the earth opens up and there is no more problem with Dathan.

The law is what protects our property. It’s what allows us to leave our homes with a reasonable expectation that when we come back all of our belongings will be where we left them. It’s what allows justice to be blind. To be judged on facts and not opinions. Even if we may not like all of the laws, if we know what the law is it gives us the boundaries to live freely within them. The protection of our property is what allows us to prosper. If we can keep our property or another way of saying it may be, if we can keep the fruits of our labor, it’s our incentive to be productive. The truth is and the statistics prove the more fruit we can keep the more we will produce. Unfortunately most of what we deal with today is not laws but regulations. This is a problem; the government is slowly but surely nudging us into compliance without our even knowing. Taking more and more of our fruit through fees and licenses, etc. That’s why it is so important for us to do our homework and understand the Constitution and the laws of our country.

I’ll close with this quote: “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom”
John Locke “Two Treatises of Government” 1679.