Magnifisyncopathological: Eminent Domain and Capitalism

September 08, 2004

Eminent Domain and Capitalism

di-ve.com: Golf course a sign of extreme capitalism - Front Against the Golf Course

"If taking the agricultural land away from the farmers and giving it to just one company is not a sign of extreme capitalism, what is extreme capitalism?" the secretary of the Progressive Farmers' Union Joseph Farrugia asked.

Mr. Farrugia is incorrect. Capitalism - let alone "extreme capitalism" - has nothing to do with this. It has everything to do with respecting private ownership and protecting that property. He's greatly mistaken if he thinks a company pushing a government entity to seize someone else's land is a hallmark of capitalism. It's the opposite: it is socialism and collectivism that abhor many if not all forms of personal ownership.

If he existed in a framework of an extremely capitalist society, he wouldn't be able to petition the various government bodies he's attempting because they wouldn't be there in the first place. This is because, as I see it, extreme capitalism is merely another term for anarcho-capitalism: the absence of the state and all it's confiscatory functions.

Assuming some state power really is forcing those farmers to give up their land for a golf course company, what's happening deserves the condemnation of all true capitalists and free-marketers. It does not matter if it's a Wal-Mart or a average families getting abused by a system supposedly set up to protect them, property seizure is wrong.

Posted by Drizzten at September 08, 2004 04:29 PM

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Comments

The misuse and abuse of the word 'capitalism' has been taking place since Marx first coined it over a century and a half ago. Milton Friedman's book, Capitalism and Freedom, might as well have been titled "Capitalism = Freedom" because the entire concept of capitalism involves the volutary exchange of goods and services aka freedom (from force and government intervention into volutary contracts).
The push on the side of the collectivists is to paint capitalism as a forceful enterprise which deprives choice of individuals. True capitalism is the exact opposite. The problem is that our country is a mixed economy which allows the barrel of a gun to interfere with volutary decisions. When that barrel points in the direction of business, capitalism is blamed when the true blame should be put on the semi-fascist, semi-totalitarian government that is aiming it.

Posted by: Curtis on January 26, 2005 11:45 AM

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