Firing Line With William F. Buckley: George Roche & Friedrich Hayek- 'Is There a Case for Private Property?'

Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley- economist Friedrich Hayek, on Firing Line With William F. Buckley, in 1977.

"Episode S0300, Recorded on November 7, 1977. Guests: Friedrich A. von (Friedrich August) Hayek, George Roche, Jeff Greenfield. For more information about this program, see:Hoover Institution." 

From Firing Line With William F. Buckley 

"A splendid hour, spent more on political philosophy than on technical economics, with the author of The Road to Serfdom and The Constitution of Liberty. FAH: "Few are ready to recognize that the rise of Fascism and Nazism was not a reaction to the socialist trends of the preceding period but a necessary outcome of those tendencies." ... "It is important not to confuse opposition against [centralized] planning with a dogmatic laissez-faire attitude.... In no system that could be rationally defended would the state just do nothing." ... "If there were omniscient men, if we could know not only all that affects the attainment of our present wishes but also our future wants and desires, there would be little case for liberty. And, in turn, liberty of the individual would, of course, make complete foresight impossible. Liberty is essential in order to leave room for the unforeseeable and unpredictable.... Humiliating to human pride as it may be, we must recognize that the advance and even the preservation of civilization are dependent upon a maximum of opportunity for accidents to happen." 

From the Hoover Institution

If you want to know why property rights in any free society are so important, you should first think of what a country or world would look like without property rights. (That would mean the State owns everything) 

I mean think about it, without property rights, the State would control everything. You would live in an apartment or house, probably an apartment, I mean think about life in the Soviet Union of Russia, where the State would own the place you live at, you're basically just a renter. The State owns the apartment building so they could come in at will. Sort of how corrections officers can enter inmates cells at will. The State wouldn't need search warrants because they own the property. 

The car or truck you drive, if you're lucky enough to have one, would be own by the State. You couldn't run your own business, because the State would own that and the only new business's that would pop up, would be new business's set up by the State, even if you're more qualified to run a business than the State. 

No such thing as private property means no such thing as individual liberty, because the State would own everything. No such thing as political liberty, because again the State would own the political parties. And you could only vote for political candidates approved by the State. 

Thats why property rights are so important, you can't have a liberal democracy without them. The ability of people to control how they move and where, where they live, how they get around, who they work for if anyone or do they run and own their own business. Without property rights, the State can come in and take things from us at will.