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Dee, I think you are starting
with the wrong set of assumptions here. You
think it is obvious that someone can do
something that makes them the owner of the
land (or other natural resources) in a very
strong sense. You need to back up and
recognize that that assumption is really quite
unusual historically. It's quite modern, and
could almost be described as parochial.
Just to give you a different
perspective, I want to include here a quote
that one historian included in his comments on
the Native American concept of property:
My friend, it
seems you lay claim to the grass my
horses have eaten because you had
enclosed it with a fence: now tell me,
who caused the grass to grow? Can you
make the grass grow? ... the grass
which grows out of the earth is common
to all; the game in the woods is
common to all. Say, did you ever eat
venison and bear's meat?-- "Yes, very
often" -- Well, and did you ever hear
me or any other Indian complain about
that? No; then be not disturbed at my
horse having eaten only once of what
you call your grass, though
the grass my horses did eat, in like
manner as the meat you eat, was given
to the Indians by the Great Spirit.
Besides, if you will but consider, you
will find that my horse did not eat
all your grass. [quoted in C. A.
Weslager The Delaware Indians: A
History, p. 37]
With all your talk about the
state of nature, all you are really doing is
universalizing one modern concept of property
and ignoring all those people to whom it seems
absurd.
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