I guess I’m an odd conservative. I always thought if I found valuable property it was my obligation to try to find the real owner.
I know it’s not mine. I didn’t earn it or inherit it. I have no moral right to it. There is a very good chance that it’s stolen property and receiving it is itself a crime and always has been.
All states have laws specifying how property of this type is supposed to be handled when found. Most of these laws are not recent or tyrannical, but are many decades old. In most of the states, if I follow these rules, I’ll obtain legal title unless the true owners are found.
Yet the consensus of the discussion on this thread appears to be about how to more effectively break the law and get away with it. Doesn’t seem very conservative to me. I always thought a key component of conservatism was a respect for the law, obeying it even when I could get away with breaking it, because obeying the law is the right thing to do.
Gads, you’re a well-trained little peasant.