To Change our Politics, We Must Change the Culture

Some people think they have an ownership share in the product of my labor merely because we breathe the same air. I always thought that statement was a metaphorical straw man, a turn of phrase useful only for mocking the lazy. I was wrong.

Over the course of the last decades, the sense that the environment is common property has grown. In addition, it has somehow become acceptable to say that other people owe you something because you breathe the same air. This environment collectivism has creeped into the culture.

You get to breathe the air, and that’s enough. As long as you don’t pollute mine, what you do with your share of the air is your business.

So during FreePAC Florida, I tweeted:

The next morning, I got this stunning response:

Commons here refers any shared resource, as in The Tragedy of the Commons, a Malthusian tract from the late 1960s. 

The logical extension of that idea is that there is no private property, because everything was, at some point, part of the Commons.

The owners of the Commons — whether you consider that to be government, society, or whomever — don’t retain an ownership interest in common property that’s used. Individuals and groups purchase the common resource, whether air, trees, or mineral rights, from the Commons, and then they have ownership of those resources. 

If America is to be restored, politics is not enough. We must defeat this idea of collectivism as a means to a better end.  Winning elections is necessary, because we have to keep the left from acquring the power to implement their schemes. And in order to keep winning those elections, we have to create a culture in which people naturally vote for limited government, and private property rights; not for free stuff.  

What makes our country so unique is that since our inception we’ve had the right to pursue personal property ownership.   Yes, originally the Declaration of Independence was to state a right to Life, Liberty and Property, but was later changed amidst fervent debate among our founders to read “pursue happiness.”  

These very rights are under attack with the persistent encroachment of collectivist ideals.  The way to fight back is to be involved locally. If you’re passionate about schools, find out when your local school board elections are, what all of the filing deadlines are to run for them, get on the ballot and start shaping what the next generation is taught.

If you’re passionate about your city and its direction, get involved and run for city council and begin shaping its future. 

You are the culture. Your actions combined with the others you surround yourself with drive popular opinion and shape the direction of our nation.  So what are you waiting for?