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Wealth and Want | |||||||
... because democracy alone is not enough to produce widely shared prosperity. | |||||||
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Arrogating
John Locke is often misrepresented by royal libertarians, who quote him very selectively. For example, Locke did say that: Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. But Locke condemned anyone who took more than he needed as a "spoiler of the commons":
Locke also restricted appropriation of land by the proviso, ignored by royal libertarians, that there must be still enough, and as good left; and more than the yet unprovided could use. So that, in effect, there was never the less left for others because of his enclosure for himself: for he that leaves as much as another can make use of, does as good as take nothing at all. Now if the situation is that there is enough free land, and as good, left after you take and cultivate your land, than your land has no market value, for who would pay you for land that is not better than land that can be had for free? So, besides the fact that Locke's justification of privatizing land is far more limited than royal libertarians portray it to be, it is irrelevant to the question of land value tax, as it applies only to land that has no value. Furthermore, Locke based his
scenario on pre-monetary societies,
where a landholder would find that "it was useless, as well as
dishonest, to carve himself too much, or take more than he needed."
With the introduction of money, Locke noted, all land quickly became
appropriated. Why? Because with money, those who can take more land
than they have personal use for suddenly have reason to do so, as
between them they will have taken all the land, and others will
have to pay rent to them. So, with the introduction of money, the
Lockean rationale for landed property falls apart, even according to
Locke.
And while Locke did not propose a
remedy specifically for to this
problem, he repeatedly stated that all taxes should be on real
estate. ... Read the whole piece |
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Wealth
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www.wealthandwant.com
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... because democracy
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prosper
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