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Private Property Rights

I worked in title insurance all my adult life and I can testify to the special gleam in one’s eye when he/she acquires that first piece of real estate that really belongs to him/her! The most excited purchasers we saw were the Habitat for Humanity buyers…they had put “sweat equity” into the house, they had been especially chosen because of their zeal and deep desire afford a better lifestyle to the family, and it was the fulfillment of their dream to own property. The right to own property is a “tangible” right, openly identifiable. A property you own is a place where you are always welcome, and a haven in good times and bad. It changes the attitudes of the occupants dramatically…and people who own property usually take care of it…it is a matter of personal pride…and parents instead of sending their sons and daughter to kill themselves in suicide bombings, can now have something to give to those children…a legacy of life, rather than of death.

These projects could create jobs for the citizens in the area, thereby instilling a sense of self-worth into people who have seen nothing but cruelty and oppression…both from their national leaders, and the religious leaders whose main function it seems is to incite violence, hate, and mayhem. Hopeless people are easily swayed as their futures ares bleak and uncertain. People who are given the idea that they can be masters of their own fate, and make independent decisions might be a real eye opener for those who have always followed, and never led. Culture is a hard thing to change, but there are those who will accept the new ideas and life styles, and others who will only watch…but the watchers will probably grab the brass ring when they see that it really does work!

What fun to trace the lineage of the families and determine true ownership, surveying large tracts of land and laying out private property parcels, and establishing a system of ownership records. Building new houses for the present “squatters” with small repayments back to the government, is a wonderful solution to the problems that would be caused by evictions. The clever Iraqis will figure out a way to get around the fact that their religion prohibits the payment or receipt of interest…leasehold is one option. Owners in large areas could participate in cooperative water companies, electric companies, and could actually create the infrastructures for their neighborhoods and cities possibly funded and maintained with oil money. I am betting those properties would pass from generation to generation and would become a source of “pride of ownership”, and a great sense of accomplishment. The right to own private property is one of the principal differences between the free world and the third-world dictatorships and communism. It is a wonderful place to start in the democratization of Iraq and Afghanistan.

I vote a hearty “yes” to this proposition