Private Property and Common Ground
Introduced by Paul Kaplan
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Private property and common ground were two central concepts in the 18th century Enlightenment. The English Enlightenment philosopher, John Locke, identified life, liberty, and property as fundamental rights. Consider this passage from The Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson:
“When men enter into a social contract to empower a government, he [Locke] writes, it is done ‘with an intention in every one the better to preserve himself, his liberty and property.’” p. 25.
Another central concept of the Enlightenment is common ground. Common ground can be understood by examples. Issacson gives the examples of the public works of Benjamin Franklin:
“He [Franklin] not only helped the craft the sentence [in the American Declaration of Independence] that defines our common ground, he lived it. He organized police, fire, and street-sweeping; corps; a public library, hospital, and school; a widows’ pension fund, and a mutual insurance cooperative.” p. 40.
Questions to Consider
Is property a basic human right?
Are there limits on private property? For example, you can own a car but you can’t drive it without a government issued license.
Should governments have the power to expropriate private property without compensation?
Should governments be able exercise eminent domain for public purposes?
What should be included in the common ground?
How should the common ground be funded?
What should the process be for determining what is private and what is in the common ground?
Why do countries differ in what is private and what is in the common ground?
What should the limits be on government power as governments levy taxes and administer the common ground?
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