The Most “Human” Right of All
by Walter Williams, syndicated journalists
Many of the staunchest advocates of “human rights” heap scorn and abuse on a very fundamental right – to private property. While advocating human rights in the abstract, they champion rent control, anti-condominium conversion laws, minimum wage laws, and other assaults on private property. Some of these people even view property rights as being in conflict with human rights and place a higher value on the latter – failing to see the elemental truth that no society can guarantee freedom to its citizens unless it respects some notion of personal property.
It’s starting to realize how dependent other basic rights are upon the protection of property rights. Take freedom of the press. How significant would our constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press be if the government were the sole owner of all the printing presses and newsprint in the country? The right of freedom of the press is predicated upon the right to private property – at least the newsprint, press, and ink. What happens to the right to peaceably assemble or to worship if every building, meeting place, or outdoor area is designated “public property”?
Under natural law, individuals own themselves. From this it follows that an individual has the right to any material goods he produces and to dispose of these goods as he sees fit. But this right is violated when the government “redistributes” income. Politicians say that all Americans have the right to food, shelter, and decent medical care. But what they are really saying is that some people have the right to take my money, through coercion, and give it to others. I would like to know: Under what interpretation of “human rights” do some people have the right to take what another man has produced?
“Human rights” are property rights. Property rights are human rights. The two are inexorably intertwined. When the state coerces parents to send their children to schools not of their own choosing, human rights are violated. When government inflates the currency so that hardworking Americans can no longer maintain a decent standard of living, it is a violation of human rights. When the government forces firms to hire people that they otherwise would not hire, it is a violation of human rights. One can easily expand the list.