To those of us who hold dear the premises of our democracy, one of the foremost thinkers who created what we hold dear is John Locke. In particular is Locke's theory of property. It was Locke who created the bifurcation of the King's, read as Government's property, and the individual's property. Establishing individual property apart from the King, Government, and holding it as something which was core to a democracy, was a formidable change in the way of thinking, it was a formidable break from the middle ages and the ideas of regency, and it was the basis for our Revolution and Constitution. Apparently Obama has either forgotten that, yes he went to Columbia and Harvard, or has rejected that. The tyrannical actions against Weinberg, Paralla et al in the Chrysler case this week is an example. The threatening of Weinberg-Parella by the Administration to comply or they would make their lives hell was nothing short of fascist!
Let me quote from Locke( John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, The Second Treatise, 1690):
"Sec. 27. Though the Earth, and all inferior Creatures be common to all Men, yet every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body had any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the State that Nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his Labour with, and joyned to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his Property. It being by him removed from the common state Nature placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other Men. For this Labour being the unquestionable Property of the Labourer, no Man but he can have a right to what that is once joyned to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common for others."
Here he defines property as the result of the labor of a man. The money invested by the investors of Weinberg-Parella was the result of their labor, it was their property. The laws of bankruptcy apply as a remedy to a breach of contract, namely the debts to Weinberg-Parella were senior to all others and they had pre-emptive rights. The Administration demanded they give those rights up for no value, the Administration demanded that they convey to the Government their property, the fruits of their labor. For what purpose, to enrich the Union. In turn to enrich the people in the current Administration at a latter time.
Locke continues:
"Sec. 45. Thus Labour, in the Beginning, gave a Right of Property, where‐ever any one was pleased to imploy it, upon what was common, which remained, a long while, the far greater part, and is yet more than Mankind makes use of. Men, at first, for the most part, contented themselves with what un‐assisted Nature offered to their Necessities: and though afterwards, in some parts of the World, (where the Increase of People and Stock, with the Use of Money) had made Land scarce, and so of some Value, the several Communities settled the Bounds of their distinct Territories, and by Laws within themselves, regulated the Properties of the private Men of their Society, and so, by Compact and Agreement, settled the Property which Labour and Industry began; and the Leagues that have been made between several States and Kingdoms, either expressly or tacitly disowning all Claim and Right to the Land in the others [sic.] Possession, have, by common Consent, given up their Pretences to their natural common Right, which originally they had to those Countries, and so have, by positive agreement, settled a Property amongst themselves, in distinct Parts and parcels of the Earth: yet there are still great Tracts of Ground to be found, which (the Inhabitants thereof not having joyned with the rest of Mankind, in the consent of the Use of their common Money) lie waste, and are more than the People, who dwell on it, do, or can make use of, and so still lie in common. Tho' this can scarce happen amongst that part of Mankind, that have consented to the use of Money."
So far the Administration has breached contracts and overridden corporate law. Now, the threats and intimidation of the property holders turns four centuries of the development of democracy on its head. This is not a Rawlsian world where the least of us must have what each and every person has. This is a world which allows, supports, encourages the entrepreneur. The threats from the Administration present a true chilling effect on the future of this country!
Let me quote from Locke( John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, The Second Treatise, 1690):
"Sec. 27. Though the Earth, and all inferior Creatures be common to all Men, yet every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body had any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the State that Nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his Labour with, and joyned to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his Property. It being by him removed from the common state Nature placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other Men. For this Labour being the unquestionable Property of the Labourer, no Man but he can have a right to what that is once joyned to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common for others."
Here he defines property as the result of the labor of a man. The money invested by the investors of Weinberg-Parella was the result of their labor, it was their property. The laws of bankruptcy apply as a remedy to a breach of contract, namely the debts to Weinberg-Parella were senior to all others and they had pre-emptive rights. The Administration demanded they give those rights up for no value, the Administration demanded that they convey to the Government their property, the fruits of their labor. For what purpose, to enrich the Union. In turn to enrich the people in the current Administration at a latter time.
Locke continues:
"Sec. 45. Thus Labour, in the Beginning, gave a Right of Property, where‐ever any one was pleased to imploy it, upon what was common, which remained, a long while, the far greater part, and is yet more than Mankind makes use of. Men, at first, for the most part, contented themselves with what un‐assisted Nature offered to their Necessities: and though afterwards, in some parts of the World, (where the Increase of People and Stock, with the Use of Money) had made Land scarce, and so of some Value, the several Communities settled the Bounds of their distinct Territories, and by Laws within themselves, regulated the Properties of the private Men of their Society, and so, by Compact and Agreement, settled the Property which Labour and Industry began; and the Leagues that have been made between several States and Kingdoms, either expressly or tacitly disowning all Claim and Right to the Land in the others [sic.] Possession, have, by common Consent, given up their Pretences to their natural common Right, which originally they had to those Countries, and so have, by positive agreement, settled a Property amongst themselves, in distinct Parts and parcels of the Earth: yet there are still great Tracts of Ground to be found, which (the Inhabitants thereof not having joyned with the rest of Mankind, in the consent of the Use of their common Money) lie waste, and are more than the People, who dwell on it, do, or can make use of, and so still lie in common. Tho' this can scarce happen amongst that part of Mankind, that have consented to the use of Money."
So far the Administration has breached contracts and overridden corporate law. Now, the threats and intimidation of the property holders turns four centuries of the development of democracy on its head. This is not a Rawlsian world where the least of us must have what each and every person has. This is a world which allows, supports, encourages the entrepreneur. The threats from the Administration present a true chilling effect on the future of this country!
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