The recent movement to remove or destroy historical monuments on government-owned property underscores a vital service that private property plays in creating a more peaceful and harmonious society.
Because the monuments and the grounds which they stand are ‘public’ property, there is no peaceful way to settle the dispute over what to do with them. Political force wins, whoever opposes, loses. Compare these battles to a system in which property is held privately and those rights are consistently preserved.
I wrote in June about the benefits to society of private property, some parts are worth recalling here:
A system based on private property rights and free exchange provides a multitude of benefits for society and the economy. Foremost among them are:
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Peacefully settling conflicting claims on goods and resources. In a world of scarcity and multiple acting individuals, it is inevitable that disputes over the use of goods will arise….What happens when two or more people have conflicting desires to use a plot of land, or a computer, a car or a pound of sugar? Short of private property rules, competition over scarce resources could devolve into who can use the most force to exert their claim over goods to the exclusion of everyone else, arbitrary rules determined by a powerful authority, or games of chance
Moreover, in this guest post to NC Capitol Connection, Wilson Times editor Corey Friedman warns against the state choosing for us who we should honor with taxpayer-funded monuments: “When cities and states commission public monuments, they’re essentially endorsing the statues’ subjects in our name. Elected officials are telling us, literally and figuratively, who to look up to….Why should government presume to tell us who’s worthy of a bronze bust?”
Friedman offers his take on how private property in the realm of statues/monuments can resolve the discord and violence: “Honor whoever you like, whether or not your neighbor approves. Just don’t force your neighbor to help pay for your tribute or house the towering statue in a public space that belongs to him as much as it does to you.”
“Our new government is founded upon … the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.”
Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy
Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861
“A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.”
South Carolina Declaration of causes for secession,
December 24, 1860
Today monuments on private land are under attack from criminals. They are destroying headstones even in cemeteries. If I understand what you are saying, then Washington City would be a very sterile looking city. These Communist care not if it is a Confederate statue or not, they want to destroy our society period.
NCCivitas desperately meets article quota by arguing the importance of private property for hate speech!
The Left will not rest until they quell all individualism and regionalism, in particular that of Southerners. They use the relics of the past in an attempt to silence us, but ignore the facts of the secession, who owned slave ships, the five states of the union that practiced slavery, that the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to Southern slaves, the tyranny of Lincoln, frequent opposition to slavery expressed by the Founding Fathers and CSA leaders, end of slaveholding amongst Southern Quakers, oposition to desecration by Democrats, etc. This is yet another attempt to split Republicans. All it does though is expose the ignorance of the Left and strengthen the resolve of Conservatives of all color and region.
“The Republican Party has a long history of standing for a united country. Theodore Roosevelt raised up the ordinary people of his day and championed their cause against abusive trusts. Dwight Eisenhower used the army to integrate a Little Rock high school. George H.W. Bush signed the most important civil rights legislation in more than a quarter-century, a bill authored by Republican senators. George W. Bush stood before Congress and the nation and defended Muslims after 9/11. Our record hasn’t been perfect. When we have pushed the agenda of the Christian right, we have seemed to exclude people who don’t share our religious beliefs. We have seemed unfriendly to gay Americans. But our long history has been to uphold the dignity of all of God’s people and to build a country welcoming to all.
Now comes Trump, who is exactly what Republicans are not, who is exactly what we have opposed in our 160-year history. We are the party of the Union, and he is the most divisive president in our history. There hasn’t been a more divisive person in national politics since George Wallace.
From an article written by John C. Danforth, a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri from 1976 to 1995
Scott,how soon you forgot the most divisive President ever.Obama set race relations back many years.The only thing devisive now is the MSM ignoring any crooked thing the Gimmedats do and reporting on lies like Russia 24/7 for months.All the while knowing their wasn’t anything to it.They reported for months Trump would be going to prison for raping a 13 year old girl.Next was the lie that he paid no taxes before the news came out he paid 38 million in one year.From your comments you have swallowed their lies hook,line,and sinker.
Since Larry cannot defend the Confederates Secession Letters I posted or the Republican Party support of Trump in 2017 that John Danforth states is ‘not really Republican,’ he rants about the MSM. Very sad!
A consequence of NC Civitas posing as an academic think tank while in reality simple be a ‘marketing’ organization for their masters is clear in the comments from their minions.
Elected leaders, States, and Communities have been taking Confederate Flags and Statues down for quite some time now yet their readers seem to be in the dark about that and blame ‘criminals’ ‘communists’ and ‘thugs’ for the surge in America’s complete disgust with Monuments that honor Slavery.
Scott seems to be in the dark about the polls that show that 62% of Americans do not want these statues removed.He would rather talk about what was happening 150 years ago and how everybody but the Alt.left are racists.The Alt.Left has screamed racist at everyone and everything that their minions deem racist while some of the morons are saying Robert E. Lee’s horse was racist because it was white.
Robert E Lee was married to George Washington’s granddaughter. He worked with Grant during the Mexican-American war and became a decorated war hero defending this country He believed slavery was a great evil and his wife broke the law by teaching slaves to read and write. After the civil war he worked with Andrew Johnson’s program of reconstruction. He became very popular with the northern states and the Barracks at West Point were named in his honor in 1962. He was a great man who served this country his entire life in some form or other. His memorial is now being called a “blight”. No American military veteran should be treated as such. People keep yelling, “You can’t change history.” Sadly you can. This is no better than book burnings. ISIS tried rewriting history by destroying historical artifacts. Is that really who we want to emulate?
As they tear down this “blight” keep these few historical facts in your mind. No military veteran and highly decorated war hero should ever be treated as such. This is not Iraq and that is not a statue of Sadam.
IN ADDITION: Lee was also very torn about the prospect of the South leaving the Union. His wife’s grandfather George Washington was a huge influence on him. He believed that ultimately states’ rights trumped the federal government and chose to lead the Southern army. His estate, Arlington, near Washington DC was his home and while away fighting the war, the federal government demanded that Lee himself pay his taxes in person. He sent his wife but the money was not accepted from a woman. When he could not pay the taxes, the government began burying dead Union soldiers on his land. The government is still burying people there today. It is now called Arlington National Cemetery. DO THEY WANT TO TEAR THAT UP ALSO?? What do you think,Scott?
I think Larry is going to any length to justify honoring Confederates who seceded from the Union to create a “Slave-Holding Republic based on White Supremacy” (their words, not mine).
Your hypocrisy is astounding…..using Polls when they support you, but dismiss them when they don’t.
I’m not ‘alt-left’ which actually does not exist. It was made up to combat anyone who is opposed to what was ‘admittedly’ the insanity of the Alt-Right.
The Confederate Monuments at the State Capitol in Raleigh were erected in 1895 and 1914. They were clear attempts to re-write history and were part of a Campaign of Fear used against Republicans and African-Americans.
I propose leaving them up and putting the TRUTH on them. Or removing them and putting them in a Museum. Where you get ‘erase history’ from is probably your angry sordid partisan mind.
Alt. Right was made up by retards like Antifa and BLM.What polls did I dismiss?You must think you read minds.
Hate to break it to you Larry, but the term ‘Alt-Right’ dates back to 2008 according to the SPLC, and Richard Spencer used it in 2010. BLM came into being in 2013.
Just another in the long series of Lies told to you by your masters on Propaganda Radio and TV.
Hate to break it to you but there is no consensus on where Alt.Right came from but suffice to say It was probably some joke that calls himself a journalist at one of the MSM joke networks and was picked up by all you lefties.Its kinda like all the other goofy things like orange this and that,or he doesn’t pay his taxes,or Russia collusion which not only hasn’t been proven but it’s not even a crime.
By the way what polls did I dismiss?I love how you throw things out there and when I call you on it you ignore it.
‘Alt-Right’ dates back to 2008 according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Richard Spencer used the term ‘Alt-Right in 2010.
BLM came into being in 2013.
Game, Set, Match!
Scott,do you really think anybody cares but you.Its totally ignorant anyway.Why don’t you comment on the polls I dismissed.
Scott,your mention of SPLC also speaks volumes.Since they spend most of their time pushing gay rights I now see where you are coming from.
Sorry Larry but you stated that BLM created the term ‘alt-right.’ You were wrong just as you are on all issues.
Last I checked, Rights were INALIENABLE. If the SPLC or ACLU speaks about Rights, I applaud them! Please SHOUT that whenever you want. I recall when Republicans stood up for the Rights of Americans. Republicans actually voted in higher numbers for the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts than Democrats. Sadly the NCGOP does not even mention that on there Website! And now it’s the Republican Party tearing those Rights away!
Your comment speaks volumes about you. Do you only support Rights for your tribe? Are you White Supremacist or Religious Fascist? Fill us in Larry. Either way, America has defeated your warped Ideology many times.
And here is a Poll for you:
Fox News Poll
56% say Trump is ‘tearing the country apart’
33% say he is ‘drawing the country together’
Now include me with Senator Bob Corker, Senator Tim Scott, Mitt Romney, and so many other Republicans who stated unequivocally last week that “Trump is not moral; that he is unfit; that doesn’t understand America; and that he is incompetent.”
I support rights for everyone not just everybody having special rights except white men.I guess you aren’t aware the only polls that count are on voting day.Your left wing losers haven’t done so well lately.0 for 5 since Trump won.So,you just keep on yapping about polls and whining about Trump and I will just keep on laughing. I see you didn’t put where that poll came from.Was it a gay one or Huff Post or another one of those non biased ones that call 80 % Gimmedats.
Scott,when you talk of incompetent you must be talking about Ostupid.He is the only President in history to never have a single year of 3% growth.Trumps second quarter just announced was 3% and he is just getting started.Thats what happens when you have a man who has built over 500 businesses as opposed to someone that had only had one job and that was a community organizer for a vote fraud bunch of crooks called ACORN.
Larry, you are clearly a partisan idiot. You prove it with your nasty remarks that show nothing but spite, ignorance, and hate, and go off topic in your lust to score what you believe are ‘partisan’ political points.
I stated clearly…FOX NEWS POLL. Are you drunk, or do you just lack basic reading comprehension skills?
Why would anyone believe what Trump has announced as 3%, especially since Trump noted all Government stats were complete fiction before he took office.
I feel sorry for you. You are a delusional partisan idiot.
Scott while you are calling me names why don’t you refute what I say? I and anyone reading my posts knows I am posting exactly the truth and you can’t say I’am not so you call me names.I feel sorry for people like you.Game,set,match.lol.
Even CNN is telling the truth?Not like Scott who says I dismiss some poll that seems to not exist.http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/30/news/economy/gdp-second-quarter-economy-3-percent/index.html
Posting articles from FAKE NEWS is hilarious!
Then quit posting fake news.