The concept of property rights has been a wonderful thing for mankind, and yet I’ve trespassed on private property many times without feeling any guilt. I also think the poor should steal from the rich when it is truly necessary for survival. I’ll have more to say on that apparent contradiction or in a moment.
In Mind Puppet, I have an essay titled “Sand Castles and Property Rights.” It ponders the nature and origin of property rights, and suggests some new ideas. I thought it was clear that I was not against people owning things, but perhaps my thoughts on how we need to limit ownership made it seem that way. Today I will try to clarify how I feel about ownership and property, both as theoretical concepts and as they are applied.
To return to my law-breaking ways, I’ll explain under what contexts I have been a trespasser. The most recent time I can recall is when I was hiking in Colorado with a true Republican, the kind that likes to think of property rights as some sort of absolute. But when we were miles from the car and the road we needed to reach to hitchhike back to the vehicle was across a fenced and posted farmer’s field, he was over the fence and trespassing even before I was. He wasn’t going to walk into the night back the way we came just because of someone’s right to their private property.
In the end, no harm was done, and I agreed with his judgment. This is more of a gray area though, since the farmer did have » Read more: Property Rights
