Posted on 11/13/2011 7:38:20 PM PST by cotton1706
Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not covet,” and “Thou shalt not steal,” were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.
We found out very early in our history the effects of socialism.
In both Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay colonies the first few years were dominated by a system where the fruit of everybody’s labor would be deposited in a central depot and shared out equally. Of course, this meant that hard workers had no incentive to work hard, the lazy had no incentive to work at all, and everybody starved equally.
In both cases, a smart governor was appointed, saw what was going on, and gave each family their own plots to farm for their own benefit. Problem solved.
What’s this quote from?
Amazing how intelligent and prophetic the founding fathers were.
Property rights are not secure in a democracy, where the rights of suffrage are equal.
I didn’t realize John Adams was a prophet...
“The problem with Internet quotations is that many are not genuine.” - Abraham Lincoln.
In this case, though, it looks legit:
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s15.html
It’s from the third volume of Adams’ Defence of the Constitutions of the United States.
Adams was a prophet because he had two thousand years of history in his head. Nothing is new under the sun. He predicted what would happen as a result of the French Revolution because he’d seen it before. And we’re seeing it again.
there was a time in America that sloth and envy were detested and shunned
today, hard work and success are vilified by the _resident and universities around the country.
before sending your children to any university, check to see if they endorse the OWS ‘movement’. if they do, remember... they are against the 1%. do you think they would strive to make your child successful if they find it distasteful/greedy?
It’s two of the original sins butting heads - greed and envy.
But whereas greed is pretty much self controlling - i.e. my greed balances out yours, provided there’s a few laws keeping me and you from using force against each other, envy doesn’t seem to have the same self-regulating traits. If anything it feeds on itself, creating growing mobs in search of “equality” and “fairness”.
The Declaration and Constitution with the Bill of Rights, along with the Federalist papers were brilliant.
They wrote the most amazing and brilliant Constitution and based it on the best political theory in all history.
They collected the best philosophies and theology in history and added their own logic and reason, and came up with an almost perfect government. They were inspired by God, I am sure. You will never have perfection on earth, but they came awfully close.
Now, we need to get back to the Constitutional principles and the Rule of Law—as before Oliver Wendell Holmes, jr. If we did, Zero would now be in prison as would most Democrats in Congress. Frank and Dodd would have life terms or death penalty.
The rule to establish a prosperous republic is simple - protect a person and his property from illegal seizure by the State or others.
If you solve that - everything else will develop naturally.
Today its the 1%. Tomorrow the 5, 10 or 20%
That is right, but unfortunately will not happen if we rely on Congress, the courts, the military, etc to do it.
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