page_37
< previous page
page_37
next page >
Page 37
strong basis for suggesting that the wise use movement is on shaky ground. Much of its public policy thrust attempts to enshrine a particular concept of private property. It is a concept that sees private property as foundational to American democracy, where the individual's bundle of sticks should be kept as intact as is feasible, absent a compelling public need. This perspective is not without historical and theoretical support (McClaughry 1975; 1976).
There were intensive debates among the country's founders about the relationship of private property to citizenship and democratic structure (Ely 1992). Drawing from the writings of John Locke, the founders saw that one of the principle functions of forming a government was protection of property. As James Madison wrote in the Federalist no. 54, "Government is instituted no less for the protection of property than of the persons of individuals." Others, including Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, concurred. Adams (1851 [1790], p. 280) noted, "Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."
But this view of the relationship of property to democracy, and the assertion of property's primacy, was not monolithical. Also drawing from Locke, others saw the need for private property ownership to bow to social needs. Locke (1952 [1690], pp. 6869) wrote:
For it would be a direct contradiction for any one to enter into society with others for the securing and regulating of property, and yet to suppose his land, whose property is to be regulated by the laws of the society, should be exempt from the jurisdiction of that government to which he himself, the proprietor of the land, is a subject.
Echoing these sentiments were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others. As Franklin (1967 [1789], p. 59) noted with force, "Private property . . . is a creature of society, and is subject to the calls of that society whenever its necessities shall require it, even to its last farthing."
The history of public imposition on private property rights seems, ultimately, to come down in favor of the position taken by those who see private property as necessarily secondary to social needs. In multiple instances, society has re-formed the concept of private property reflective of new social relations and new technology. So, for example, southern slave owners were not compensated when their "property" (the slaves) was taken through emancipation, even though some sued for such compensation after the Civil War. During the 1960s, owners of commercial establishments lost their private property right to choose whom they would serve, once more reflecting changing social attitudes on race and human relations; again they were not compensated (Hecht 1964). And early in the twentieth century, when the
Â
< previous page
page_37
next page >
Wyszukiwarka
Podobne podstrony:
page7page7page7page7page7page7więcej podobnych podstron