Participation and Private Property
Critics of private property assume that “private” ownership is just another way the rich can shut out the deserving masses from fully participating in society.
But private property is in fact one of the most powerful engines of participation ever devised and ownership of it allows even more people than any utopia could to have a stake in society.
Owning a business, for instance, transforms peculiarity into vocation.
A person obsessed with garbage is, without a business of his own, simply a weirdo who likes trash. But with one he becomes a proud service provider and a respected contributor to his community’s economic well being.
Ownership, then, is what converts private eccentricity into public contribution.
Ownership also creates a sense of belonging in the world.
It is no coincidence that the things we own we call belongings. Nor is it a coincidence that the word “property” comes from the Latin proprius, meaning “one’s own.” Thus language highlights a fundamental truth: to own something is to be connected to society at large.
After all, think of the things you proudly own. A wedding ring. A family home. A collection of tools.
These are not walls against the world, but the very threads that weave us into it.
Ownership also accelerates moral maturity in ways no other institution can match. Think of unruly teenagers. Lectures don’t change their behavior nor do punishments.
But years later, when they finally own something of their own—a car, a home, a business— a transformation gradually occurs.
They begin to respect not just their own belongings, but everyone else’s.
Ownership teaches, then, what years of moralizing could not. And that new respect makes them better neighbors, better workers, and better participants in the shared life of their community.
Thus ownership isn’t a way of excluding others from society -- it’s a way to help them buy in, morally, physically, and in many ways spiritually.
Zigmund Reichenbach has an M.A. in Philosophy from West Chester University and is a professional advocate for less government. You can help him combat bad ideas in politics and philosophy by donating to his work at https://ko-fi.com/zigmundreichenbach .
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