Natan Sharansky. one of the leading Soviet dissidents, commented on democracy in yesterday’s WSJ Opinion Journal:

I believe that too much focus has been placed on holding quick elections, while too little attention has been paid to help build free societies by protecting those freedoms--of conscience, speech, press, religion, etc.--that lie at democracy's core.

It is unfortunate, albeit almost universal, for such lists of fundamental political freedoms to ignore the right to possess and use property. Everyone has been brain-washed by almost a century of propaganda contrasting “human” or “political rights” with “property rights.”

In fact, there is no such thing as “property rights.” Property is inanimate; it has no rights. The proper description is “the human right to create, own, and use property.”

What is more fundamental to democracy and liberty? Of what use is the right to free speech if one loses one’s livelihood for speaking, and how can the press be free if it is dependent on government subsidies?

The right to property, to the fruits of one’s labors, is absolutely fundamental to political freedom. In an era when those fruits increasingly take the form of creative products, the right to own and use intellectual property is absolutely within the ambit of this truth.

Furthermore, independent sources of economic support are essential to honest public discussion of important issues. The corrupting effect of government dependency is illustrated by a piece in today’s TCS Daily – Europe on the corrupting effect of government funding on discourse about scientific issues.

[Richard Lindzen, Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)] identify[ies] how the doom-mongers in both the science research community and media have a "vested interest" in "hyping" the "political stakes for policymakers who provide more funds for more science research to feed more alarm. "After all", Lindzen wonders, "who puts money into science -- whether for AIDS, or space, or climate -- where there is nothing really alarming"?

posted by James DeLong @ 10:24 AM | General

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