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I
just want to say that I think you are on the
wrong track with all this stuff about the
state of nature and the Lockean proviso. It's
an old paradigm that has nothing to do with
the way people think today.
There is no such thing as
natural law in Locke's sense or any other
sense. Property is a social construct. It's a
system of rules that people make up as they go
along. In my opinion, its a system that people
with power impose on those without power.
That's it. Love it or fight it. Don't start
talking about the state of nature and natural
law.
Myself, I believe that
private property can have a useful function on
a small scale. Small businesses are usually
very competitive and they do not exercise any
great economic or political power. Owning a
home has a protective function for the family
that lives in the home. Owning a car is a
great convenience for many people. On the
other hand, when private persons are allowed
to own huge corporations that control the
basic means of production, they accumulate
vast economic and political power. In Dee's
system of things, there is no effective
opposition to that power, no counterbalance,
no restraining power.
It seems to me that if you
are going to have huge private corporations,
you also need a government that can restrain
them and require them to work within a moral
framework provided by the community. Without
that, corporations will simply run the show in
their own interest.
But let me put forward
another idea that has been completely lost in
this conversation. There is another path to
take in the state of nature (if we must talk
about that philosophical fantasy). Rather than
individual people acquiring property in
natural resources, there is the possibility of
collective
control. Yes, that's right, I said "collective."
The great American nightmare. But doesn't it
make perfect sense? Especially if Locke's
proviso isn't met?
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