Libertarians
sometimes talk as though without super-strong property rights all is
lost. I don't think that's true; and I think there are lots of
examples around the world that prove that it isn't true. Here in the
United States, for example, property is much more regulated than it
was 100 years ago. But during the same period our right to free speech
has been expanded.
If we don't have libertarian property rights, does that mean that the government can do anything it wants? Of course not. There are lots of moral and prudential reasons to limit what government does and to define and regulate property
in some ways rather than in others.
What it does mean, I think, is that the natural rights that people have in a hypothetical state of nature have
no real implications for what we do today in our society.
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