Posted by
wingnut on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 11:59:06 PM
Property And Freedom, Richard Pipes, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.
Richard Pipes was President Reagan's National Security Council advisor on Soviet and East European Affairs in 1981 and 1982. This book is especially appropriate for the slide into socialism that WE are experiencing. Part 1 titled "The Idea Of Property" explores how people viewed ownership per se from classical antiquity through the 20th century. Part 2 titled "The Institution Of Property" discusses the emergence of land as property. Part 3 is "England And The Birth Of Parliamentary Democracy". It explores common law and taxation. Part 4 is "Patrimonial Russia". Part 5 is "Property In The 20th Century". Here, finally, we get to learn all about Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, the welfare state, property of modern corporations, environmental protection vs. private ownership, forfeitures, entitlements, contracts, and affirmative action. Somehow, I think it would be a wasted effort to get this book into the hands of our "Dear Leader", but as an education for the rest of us, it's reading is encouraged. It is 297 pages long.
--RPC, 09Oct14, 2009