Property Rights

We talk about property rights all of the time without ever mentioning the term “property rights.” Maybe it’s time we should start calling them by their name. They are everywhere in our society and the choice is between the state and the individual. 

Let’s start with public health.

FDA decides which drugs you can take and which ones you can’t – even if you are dying. Until recently, you could not even try an unapproved drug to save your life. Today, you can try one if you: 

”have exhausted all approved treatment options and are unable to participate in a clinical trial to access certain drugs that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” 

Let’s imagine a scene like in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest where a dying man, Mr. McMurphy, goes to FDA and speaks to Dr. Ratched.

McMurphy: Look Doc, my doctor says I might only have a month or more. I just want to try it.

Dr. Ratched: Please understand: We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value.

McMurphy: But I heard that some people on this drug are already feeling better.

Dr. Ratched:  At some time—perhaps in your childhood—you may have been allowed to get away with flouting the rules of society. That foolish lenience on the part of your parents may have been the germ that grew into your present illness. I tell you this hoping you will understand that it is entirely for your own good that we enforce discipline and order."

McMurphy: But….

Dr. Ratched with a tight smile: What if everyone wanted to try whatever drug they thought might cure them? Let’s talk about this at a later date, that would be better, wouldn’t it?

Who owns the right to decide what to do with our property, including “our bodies, our labor and our ideas” has been discussed for at least 300 years. Between 1690 and 1754, two philosophers laid down conflicting opinions about property. John Locke was first, writing that man has “a title to perfect freedom” … “not only to preserve his property, that is, his life, liberty and estate….” 

Read the full piece on my Substack here.