Property rights suffered unprecedented attacks in 2020. These attacks came from a variety of sources and took many different forms. Virtually nobody was spared from the destructive consequences.
The assault was started by local and state governments when they restricted our freedom to produce and trade. Businesses were forced to close, and many will never reopen. Tens of millions were thrown out of work, creating a tsunami of financial turmoil. Rather than restore our freedom, government responded by throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at businesses and individuals.
The attack was soon joined by an assortment of hoodlums and thugs who engaged in widespread looting and destruction. Many public officials sympathized with the looters, and cities across the country jumped on the bandwagon of defunding the police.
The siege culminated with the federal government upping the ante. After the November election, the Trump administration increased its efforts to seize private property for the border wall. And then the government filed anti-trust charges against Google and Facebook.
All of these actions, along with countless others, represent a multi-pronged attack on our freedom to produce, use, and trade material values. And because that freedom is essential to our ability to sustain our lives, these attacks on property rights were fundamentally an assault on our ability to live.
Without property rights, we cannot take the actions necessary to live independent, flourishing lives. The events of 2020 should have made this fact crystal clear, yet most Americans have failed to learn that lesson. Instead of demanding the freedom to pursue their own values, to be self-responsible, they have turned to government to sustain them.
The growing dependence on government does not bode well for the future. The government’s increasing willingness to control the economy and penalize our most successful companies will negatively impact everyone. The calls to defund the police are an invitation for anarchy and chaos.
Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” We are facing a serious crisis, and that provides us with an opportunity to advance the cause of freedom.
Americans have experienced the practical results of violations of property rights. The opportunity before us is to explain why property rights are necessary to live. Property rights are practical because they are moral.