Property and power

In Aesop’s fable, “The Wolf and the Lion” a wolf steals a lamb and carries it toward his lair. Along the way he encounters a lion, who takes the lamb without explanation. Once safely out of reach the wolf protests: “You have no right to take my property like that!” The lion replies, “Your property? Did you buy it, or did the shepherd make you a gift of it? Pray tell me, how did you get it?” The fable’s moral is concise and enduring: “What is evil won is evil lost.” The lesson applies not only to physical possessions but also to intellectual property and the broader principle of rightful ownership. Property obtained through deceit, coercion, or theft is never securely possessed. The person who acquires something wrongfully must conceal it, defend it, and live with the fear that it will be discovered or taken away. What was intended as a gain becomes a source of anxiety, obsession, and moral corrosion. In that sense, ill-gotten property carries within it the seeds of its own loss. This principle bears directly on contemporary political debates of today. When public officials or candidates propose using governmental power to confiscate, heavily tax, or otherwise redistribute property beyond legitimate constitutional limits, they risk treating the fruits of another person’s labor as political spoils. Government possesses immense coercive authority; it can regulate, tax, fine, and enforce its commands through the legal system. That authority must therefore be restrained by a clear commitment to individual rights, due process, and the rule of law. Without such restraints, the power to govern can deteriorate into tyranny. James Madison understood property in far broader terms than land, money, or material goods. In his essay On Property, he wrote that “as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.” For Madison, property included not only the fruits of one’s labor but also one’s opinions, the free communication of those opinions, religious exercise, personal security, and liberty. He regarded conscience as “the most sacred of all property.” This understanding is essential to a free society. Liberty depends not merely on the ability to own a home, a business, or the proceeds of one’s work; it also depends on the right to think independently, speak openly, worship freely, and live without arbitrary interference. A government established to secure rights must protect both material property and personal liberties that allow individuals to develop their talents, pursue their vocations, and participate fully in civic life. The Constitution reflects this commitment. Article I, Section 8, authorizes Congress to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing, for limited times, authors’ and inventors’ exclusive rights to their writings and discoveries. This provision recognizes intellectual property as an extension of human creativity and labor. Likewise, the Fifth Amendment provides that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. The Fourteenth Amendment further extends constitutional protection against arbitrary state action by providing that no state may deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Together, these provisions reflect the Founders’ conviction that civil society exists not to subordinate the individual to the whims of rulers, factions, or bureaucracies, but to secure the rights individuals possess by nature. John Adams expressed the principle plainly: “Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.” The protection of property is therefore not a narrow economic concern; it is a safeguard against political domination. A person who cannot securely retain the fruits of his labor, ideas, or lawful possessions is not fully free. Ayn Rand similarly warned against “the desire for the unearned.” Her argument was fundamentally moral; human flourishing depends upon recognizing the relationship between effort, creation, responsibility, and reward. When a culture treats achievement as something to be seized rather than earned, it encourages envy and weakens the virtues of productivity, trust, and personal responsibility. For these reasons, proposals that diminish private-property rights, weaken law enforcement, or disregard national sovereignty deserve rigorous scrutiny. A just society must resist policies rooted in resentment or class antagonism and instead preserve the conditions that make ordered liberty possible: secure rights, equal justice under law, personal responsibility, and respect for the dignity of work. Capitalism offers individuals the opportunity to create, exchange, innovate, and prosper through voluntary cooperation. It is not a perfect system because human beings are not perfect. Yet it remains the system most consistent with individual liberty, private property, and the possibility of broad human flourishing. The alternative political systems that subordinate rights to ideological redistribution have too often produced scarcity, coercion, and the concentration of power in the hands of those who claim to act for the common good. https://kimmonson.com/featured_articles/property-and-power/