Ariadne's Thread on Property
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  John Speaking

Speaker Let me make something clear. I am not saying that the labor that people expend on a piece of land in the state of nature (or on making a pair of shoes) has NOTHING to do with whatever property rights that person has to that land or those shoes. I'm not saying that their labor confers NO PROPERTY RIGHT WHATSOEVER to that land or those shoes. On the contrary, I believe that it does confer or justify a limited property right.

What I am saying is that I do not believe that their labor justifies the extensive property rights that classic liberals or modern libertarians advocate.

Furthermore, I believe that there are competing moral concerns that justify limitations on property rights conferred by labor or other actions. They might justify, for example, income taxes that are then used to maintain a broad distribution of property, develop public education, or provide assistance for the poor.



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