Why I Own Myself (and is Facebook really private property?)

Howard Wetsman MD
Sep 6, 2018 · 4 min read

Libertarianism, as a method of thought, derives primarily from the concept of self-ownership. I own me, you own you, so I shouldn’t impose on your rights, and you shouldn’t impose on mine, no matter who you or I are. It’s hard for us to realize what a new idea this is. Even the King (or in our case, government) doesn’t own me and cannot impede on my rights. This classically liberal idea is only a few hundred years old. From this idea, we can derive the non-agression principle, the role of the state, and many other foundational concepts of liberty.

Recently, I’ve been party to several discussions on the right of a company to do whatever it wants with regard to its freedom of association. It has been pointed out by many that the Constitution limits the right of government, not individuals, and by extension, not companies owned by individuals or groups of individuals. So, Facebook can ban anyone they want without violating a constitutional right to free speech just as much as I can choose not to associate with someone I don’t want to. But others say that Facebook, because it is given power as a corporation by government, should be treated like government and not have the power to ban someone it doesn’t want to associate with. It’s a conundrum.

So, while I’m not the world’s greatest libertarian thinker, I want to take a stab at understanding this. It seems, from my limited point of view, to be associated with self ownership, so let me ask, why do I own myself? There have been a couple of theories put forth.

The God theory

Thomas Jefferson wrote that we are endowed by our creator with certain liberties, which include but are not limited to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I will let this stand as a good stating of the God theory of self ownership. I own myself because I was created by God, who has all the power, and was given self ownership by my creator at creation. That ought to take it out of puny hands like yours or the government’s and put an end to the argument. If you like that argument we could stop there.

But God didn’t create Facebook or any other company. Puny men did. So if I have self ownership because God gave it to me, then perhaps, Facebook, as a collective creation of man, has no more self ownership than government. Let’s hold that thought.

The responsibility theory

Another reading of self ownership holds that I own myself because I have absolute responsibility for my actions, that self ownership is a right that comes with my taking responsibility for myself. One can derive this from the libertarian definition of adulthood as exposed by Walter Block. He told me that rather than pick a arbitrary age (like 16 for smoking and 18 for voting and 21 for drinking) we could use the idea of homesteading. A child becomes an adult when they leave to set up their own homestead. That is, we own ourselves when we take enough control of ourselves to own what we produce. So, because I have taken full responsibility for myself, I own myself. Good enough.

But do the owners of corporations have the same level of responsibility for corporate actions as they do for their own personal actions? Actually, perhaps not. The modern corporation, as distinct from partnerships, has a concept of limitation of liability. That is, an owner cannot be held liable, except in certain circumstances involving personal fraud, for more than the value of the ownership of their portion of the company. If I personally do damage to you, I have to make that right, even if the value of making it right exceeds my current wealth. The ethical obligation remains over time until fulfilled. But a corporation can dissolve, and the owners of that private property are absolved of the full value of damage done by the corporation. Liability is limited. And that limitation is derived from government grant, so corporations have no more self ownership than government.

Is there a synthesis?

I’m not yet sure. When I started hearing about this issue I was a stanch believer that any company could do anything its owners wanted because it is private property. I wasn’t worried at all about Facebook banning me or anyone else. But listening to the arguments, I’ve now started to wonder. The arguments that grant Facebook that right, beyond the “well you agreed to the rules when you signed up” argument, raise questions for me that run much deeper.

It is true that when a person signs up with Facebook they agree to the rules, but what about situations where we don’t agree to the rules in advance, like a bakery or a toy store? There is an unclear line in society between a public accommodation and a private club. This seems to revolve around the idea of what is private and what is public. Libertarians have sought to solve this by saying, “Well, if you did it our way, everything would be private and everything would be clear, so don’t blame us.” Great.

But the world is really the way it is, and not everything is private today. Maybe it should be, or maybe not. I’ll agree with another of Jefferson’s statements about people having the right to set up whatever government they feel “effects their safety and happiness.” I won’t impose it on them. But having gotten the government we deserve through our historical decisions, we still have the obligation of redeciding in this moment how we want to move forward. So let’s all look at this question, because we’re going to be faced with the decision, and our kids will be faced with the reality we create.

Howard Wetsman MD

Written by

Addictionologist, scientist, author. Working to educate the world at GenEdSystems.com. Solves problems with TOC. Writes occasionally at TOCDr.com

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