The Commons

Anything can be turned into a Commons (public asset) not just schools, roads and bridges. A 'right' can be made part of the Commons by law or regulation. Legislating a 'minimum wage' is an example because decisions about wages are removed from private businesses. The military 'draft' allows individuals to be forced into the government military, thus losing their private choice not to be militarized. When taxed, your money becomes part of the Commons.

Once 'collectivised' as part of The Commons, resources, rights and treasury money are available for exploitation to those with access. A good illustration of exploiting The Commons can be seen at this YouTube clip.

Those who control the government also control We, the People. Politics replaces 'free' market with an unfree one and so alters demand/supply decisions. Political forces decide who gets (rent seeking) and who pays. For example, when a government suspends evictions for the public interest it also suspends your property rights without due process. When government prevents you from operating your business for any reason it takes your livelihood without compensation.

Government makes laws. Laws create privileges for some and steal inalienable rights from others in the process. Laws steal choices. They prohibit and limit choices for some people and makes them obey someone else’s choices. It’s like being told where to sit on the bus. Laws make you do things you would not want to do if you were free. Was it meant to be this way? What can be more valuable than choice? What do you have when you have no choice?

We, the people, are continually told goverment is needed to correct free market failures and to serve a mythical Common Good. Yet, The experts we put in charge of the state apparatus to rule us through compulsion and coercion had proven to be an enormous flop. Legislated failures are ubiquitous ( start here ). For example, public schools are often tragically bad. Exploiting The Commons inevitably results in The Tragedy Of The Commons. Tragedy is hardly a Common Good.

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