Property Rights are Essential to Liberty

Recently, the Progressive Conservatives government of Alberta had passed a controversial bill that allows the Provincial Government to basically claim anyone's land for "Critical Transmission Infrastructure." Bill 50 passed and with it a bit of all our freedom, as we take a another step closer to tyranny.

It seems that whenever political leaders elect to strip people of their freedoms, they do so under the guise of "for the greater good," and this this is no exception. Many people also see these efforts as necessary in the name of progress. Unfortunately most of the time, nobody speaks up against these maneuvers until it effects them personally, and unfortunately, by then it is too late. Those whom wish to rule have taken another step towards their goal while the rest of us take a step toward servitude.

Now when you talk about property rights, most people think of land ownership. Although part of property right, that is not the limits of it. Imagine that you, through research and hard work, create a cure for malaria. No sooner do you do this when someone from the WHO comes along and confiscates your research so that they may distribute the cure for the "the greater good." You have just had your "intellectual property" seized. Ask yourself now, "what would happen to you if you refused to gives this up?"

The truth is that everything you own, create, imagine, or labour, is your property, and your dominion over these ensures your freedom as an individual. If a thief steals your car, he will be arrested and sent to jail, for violating your property rights. So why is it more acceptable for a government to take your property through legislation?

Already the government has taken more then they are entitled to through legislating income tax. Yes, the proceeds of your labour is your property. Some how our society has accepted this as a "necessary sacrifice." it is neither necessary or a sacrifice. Government can make equal or more revenues from other sources, and for it to be a sacrifice the choice to pay it would have to be yours. What is even more strange is that government doesn't view it as confiscating a portion of your income, they look at it as allowing you to keep the greater portion. It makes you wonder if the government thinks of it's citizens as property.

Without everyones property rights maintained, we all run the risk of losing our freedoms. If we continue to allow government to pass legislation, such as Bill 50, they will continue to dissolve our individual freedoms for the collective good until our existence is reduced to a serfdom, and our liberties are replaced with a tyranny.


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