The Philosphy of Ownership

Welcome to the Front Porch!!

Wonder how many of you have had the pleasure of reading anything by Robert LeFevre? I attended one of his Rampart College "Fundamentals of Liberty" seminars in 1970. It was an illiminating, provocative week long journey into a unique libertarian's mind.

LeFevre authored among other books and pamphlets, THIS BREAD IS MINE, THE NATURE OF MAN AND HIS GOVERNMENT, ANARCHY VERSUS AUTARCHY, and THE PHILOSPHY OF OWNERSHIP. At a time when libertarian books were scarce, his book service also offered Murray Rothbard's WHAT HAS GOVERNMENT DONE TO OUR MONEY?, Spooner's NO TREASON: THE CONSTITUTION OF NO AUTHORITY AND A LETTER TO THOMAS F. BAYARD.

A few snippets from THE PHILOSOPHY OF OWNERSHIP (More appropriate today than ever):

"No man can give away something he does not first own. It is only when his authority and responsibility in ownership are fully seen that he can truly give.

"It is probable that this urge to share is one of the dominating emotions that grip all holders of public office. Politicians are so eager to share that they are willing to take property not belonging to them so they can bask in the glow of having given it away. This Robin Hood emotion of sharing stolen goods with others is obviously a problem...

"One of the reasons there is a such a strong feeling against taxation in general, or any other kind of theft however legalized, relates to the fact that all individuals wish to be in a position to exercise their own judgment in respect to giving....the self-satisfaction he might otherwise obtain is kept from him by the intrusion of otherswho take from him so they can be generous with what he himself has produced....

"....One of the greatest enemies to charity is enforced charity. This stimulates resentment, causes men to isolate themselves in fear, and encourages the very type of narrow and provincial behavior which government claims to be seeking to discourage. In time it breeds distrust and societal disintegration. It encourages theft, both public and private...as government programs intensify to bring about integration, social union, and harmony, the opposite results manifest.

"While government poses as the inescapable essential to a lawful and orderly social system, the fact it is that government itself sets into motion those very factors which are the root of societal malaise and destruction.

"A society built upon the solid foundations of private property and respect for property boundaries and values of others, becomes an orderly and peacful society of necessity....Cancel this by the imposition of government exactions and regulations, and involuntary exchanges take the place of voluntary exchanges while dissatisfaction, discord, demonstration, riot, and ultimate chaos ensue.

"Societal order is only possible in a territory where private ownership of property is the recognized and supported stabilizer. A society built upon retributive justice invariably tips the scales of voluntary cooperation and benefits the unworthy, the careless, the non-productive, and the dependent.

" This is one of the factors which make politicians attractive to many people...The same kind of romance surrounds a Robin Hood, a Jesse James,...or a member of the Mafia, as surrounds a government official. These are all men who live beyond the normal moral rules against theft. They are untouched by property considerations. They do not have to live by personal self-discipline, or so it appears. Rather they can parade about, winning the admiring glances of yound and old by their careless disregard of the property rights of others, and their ready sympathy for those in distress. Yet nothing distresses a thief quite so much as being reminded of the fact that his open-handedness is only made possible by the diligence, sweat and toil of others whom he has despoiled. He attempts consciously to focus attention on the generous acts her performs, and hopes you will not see the misery and degradation and the thwarting of individual satisfactions he leaves in his wake."


----from THE PHILOSOPHY OF OWNERSHIP, by Robert LeFevre, pub 1966

Now that you're read this far, your thoughts are? (I can't help picture Nancy Pelosi with that goddamned hammer---but I'm no gentleman like Robert LeFevre was...)