Holly is so close. It is almost on the tip of her ascerbic tongue. Failure to understand classical economists and their goals, a misunderstanding of Adam Smith and Marx, who quoted Smith often in Das Kapital. I have told her before that she fails to make the crucial distinction between property in land and what we call personal property. It is so obvious yet people remain blissfully ignorant of the truth, yet at one time it was common knowledge and an article of faith. John Locke put it so plainly, yet it is pretty obvious why this fact is so inconvenient to some who take great pains to ignore it and cover it up. The Lockean Triad of life, liberty and property takes on an entirely different meaning when you are familiar with this crucial dictum:
“God gave the world in common to all mankind. When the “sacredness” of property is talked of, it should be remembered that any such sacredness does not belong in the same degree to landed property.”
John Locke (1632–1704)
Jefferson and most of the framers understood this. Hence Jefferson’s choice of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
“The earth is given as a common stock for men to labor and live on.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
Just trying to help, Holly.