The Outstater
The Mystery of Property, 2026
“Everything has already been said, but since no one listens, it is necessary to say it again.” — Andre Gide
NEW YEAR’S IS the appropriate time to review lost lessons — resolutions unkept, certainly, but also those truths related by an earlier generation, a father or grandfather maybe, that were never fully incorporated into your operating manual.
I have one: It is respect for private property. In my childhood, it meant keeping off other people’s grass. During my rebellious years, it was the selfish concerns of people older and richer than myself.
It is all that, perhaps, but a lot more. I have learned that it is what’s holding our civilization together, albeit tenuously. Indeed, in comparison to the freedom to hold property, freedom of speech is a mere affectation, and social justice, equity and the resentments of a myriad of political identities are tragic jokes.
The founder of modern economics, Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992), was asked to leave a statement for future generations, for all races, for all classes and for all identities. His response:
“Modern civilization which enables us to maintain 4 billion people (8 billion now) was made possible by the institution of private property. It is only thanks to this institution that we achieved an extensive order far exceeding anybody’s knowledge. If you destroy that moral basis, which consists in the recognition of private property, we will destroy the sources which nourish present-day mankind, and create a catastrophe of starvation beyond anything mankind has yet experienced.”
We hear from people who like to talk about their intention, their commitment, to saving the world, to banishing hunger and so forth. They are sketchy, though, as to how that might be done. They don’t like to consider that such a profound task may not have a solution, only tradeoffs. That a moral base, a high-trust culture, might be critical to even incremental success.
Fortunately, the historian and social commentator Tom Bethell (1936-2021) did consider it. He carefully tracked the almost mystical role of property in his “The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages.” Therein he explained the necessary choice, the responsibility, that our generation is yet unprepared to make:
“The great blessing of private property is that people can benefit from their own industry and insulate themselves from the negative effects of others’ actions. It is like a set of invisible mirrors that surround individuals, households or firms, reflecting back on them the consequences of their acts. The industrious will reap the benefits of their industry, the frugal the consequences of their frugality; the improvidant and the profligate likewise. They receive their due, which is to say they experience justice as a matter of routine. Private property institutionalises justice. This is its great virtue, perhaps dwarfing all others. We may say with the economists that private property ‘internalizes the externalities,’ or with the philosophers that it gives rise to ‘social justice.’”
Happy New Year, and yes, we will republish this next year. — tcl
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