For The Inviolability Of Private Property - Worldwide

Let me begin with History - an editorial from an English newspaper, The Morning Post, dated 10 July, 1860. This was brought to my attention by a friend - and it shows clearly how the English mind looked at the concept of Private Property in that Golden Age of Classical Liberalism, the age of Queen Victoria and Gladstone:

Every Englishman is accustomed to pride himself with more than usual complacency upon what is called the sanctity of an English home. No soldier, no policeman, no spy of the Government dare enter it... Unlike the tenant of a foreign domicile, the occupier of an Englsih house, whether it be mansion or cottage, possesses an indisputable title against every kind of aggression upon his threshold. He defies everybody below the Home Secretary [what we in India call Home Minister]; and even he can only violate the traditional security of a man's house under extreme circumstances, and with the prospect of a Parliamentary indemnity. It is with this thoroughly innate feeling of security that every Englishman feels a strong sense of the inviolability of his own house. It is this that converts the moorside cottage into a castle. The moral sanctions of an English home are, in the nineteenth century, what the moat, and the keep, and the drawbridge were in the fourteenth. In the strength of these we lie down to sleep at night, and leave our homes in the day, feeling that the whole neighbourhood would be raised, nay, the whole country, were any attempt made to violate what so many traditions, and such long custom, have rendered sacred.

"Life, Liberty and Property" - this was the mantra of classical liberalism. But the US Declaration of Independence went for a different wording:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Never mind the fact that all men are NOT created equal - and that classical liberalism only meant "equality before law." 


But never forget that without the Inviolability of Property there can be no Liberty to Pursue Happiness as one's subjective mind sees it - like cannabliss.


But things are much worse in the USSA today. It is not just that cannabliss farms are being burnt and homes raided by police SWAT teams looking for "drugs" - there is a huge amount of "eminent domain" abuse. Property in the USSA is no longer secure from State predation.


This was brought home to me when I went through Bruce Benson's (edited) new book titled Property Rights: Eminent Domain and Regulatory Takings Re-Examined published in association with The Independent Institute (free download here). It seems the US Supreme Court took a decision in the Kelo vs City of New London case that favoured eminent domain - and this led to a political backlash, and many US States, led by Oregon and Nebraska, passed "measures" to curb the misuse of this power. A conference was later held in which many leading scholars participated - and Professor Benson concludes that the papers presented - all compiled in this book - deliver the verdict that "much more significant limitations on government takings must be imposed."


Of course, not all the scholars are of this view. I found one paper by Steven Eagle of George Mason University' School of Law quite unsatisfactory. He argues that, in the case of assembling parcels of land for urban redevelopment, transaction costs are too high, and eminent domain is therefore justified. He argues for equity participation of owners in the new development. This is what we have tried in India - unsuccessfully.


In reality, transaction costs can be both "good" as well as "bad." If eminent domain was unconstitutional - if property was inviolable - any private developer wanting to assemble a large piece of land for whatever purpose would have to hire property agents as well as lawyers, and these would be "good transaction costs." If eminent domain is allowed, then he would pay off politicians, bureaucrats and policemen - and these would be "bad transaction costs." In the latter case, there would also be a "political backlash" - with further "social costs," like social unrest, demonstrations and the like. This is what we have seen in Mayawati's UP.


What I liked best about Benson's conclusion - that "instability, inefficiency, and inequity are the inevitable result of government planning and regulation" - are his quotes from Mises: like when Mises says that all arguments in favour of government intervention assume that the State is "benevolent and omniscient." Of course, it is no such thing. Politicians and bureaucrats have their own interests. And "knowledge" is fragmented in society. Another quote, from Mises' Omnipotent Government underlined the fact that State personnel HATE and DESPISE private property rights - because it strictly limits their powers. Just as the Gold Standard limits their budgets.


Anyway, whether Proudhon or Marx like it or not - ordinary people in both the USSA as well as India are fighting for the preservation of their properties. In India, Singur and Nandigram brought the Commies down! And their replacement is totally against eminent domain!


It is therefore pleasant for me to conclude with a piece of news from our own Supreme Court that says that these "socialist" dudes have passed a ruling on eminent domain that says "government is guilty of fraud if property acquired for public purposes is given to private firms."


Looks like we might get to inviolability before the USSA does :).


Life, Liberty and Property - that is the mantra. 


When your property is inviolable - when, as the editorial quoted above says, "no soldier, no policeman, no spy of the Government dare enter it," only then will the "pursuit of happiness" be free.


Think about it.

Only Liberty And Property, Dudes

I found a strange article - actually a sort of book review - in Mint the other day, with the strange title:

More literacy + More per capita income= More democracy

And the sub-title read:

Whether education promotes democracy or the causality is the other way around, has been the subject of a heated debate, with some economists saying that institutions are the prime engine of growth, while others view human capital as the root cause of economic development

And, at the bottom, was the author, 

Manas Chakravarty's, conclusion:

Developing countries in East Asia, for instance, slowly became more democratic as they became richer. That could hold true for China as well. And for India, the success of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the concomitant higher levels of literacy, together with higher per capita income, will lead to a more meaningful participation in our democracy.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Note that the author never mentions the sweet word "Liberty." Nor that other sweet word "Property." We have neither - but we have "democracy." It is democratic legislation that banned 70,000 dancing girls in Bombay - and put some 5,00,000 musicians, bartenders, waiters, bouncers and cooks out of work. It is subordinate legislation that does not permit anyone to open a simple beer bar in Nude Elly. 


Yet, we are told we have The Vote. But you cannot eat The Vote; nor can you feed it to your family. Liberty is what you need - not The Vote.


And as for State Education: There are lots of people who could survive very well without formal education - like dancing girls and musicians.


There are lots of people who know something valuable that no formal education can teach them - like the tribals who "know" how to distil mahua from a jungle flower of the same name. They need Liberty.


Democracy is "the god that failed" - and this is clear when we look at Europe and the USSA today. With a "time preference" of just five years, democratic rulers "loot and scoot." Lord Keynes has given them the ability to do so even better. And their "education" (and their "intellectuals") have just endorsed Keynesian and socialist myths. 


If you read Hoppe's book, you will find a clear demonstration of the fact that "traditional monarchies" were better than democracy - because then, the ruler was "under the law," the people had liberty as well as property, and the ruler's time horizon was limitless, because his son would take over after he died, and so he had the desire to keep on increasing the capital value of his State. 


Under democracy, all we have, internationally, is "capital consumption" - which is the road to "de-civilisation." Just wait a few months, and you will realise how The Vote has destroyed the world. Especially "western civilisation." 


Destroyed.


Apart from Liberty, people need the inviolable right to Property - because this unlocks the "mystery of capital." As Hernando de Soto has shown, through field  studies all over the Third World, from Bangladesh to Egypt, poor people own property in these "poor nations" - property worth trillions - but possess no "titles." This bars them from Capitalism. They remain poor - forever. They live in shantytowns.


The sort of book that Manas Chakravarty has reviewed for his column is a good example of the kind of "empirical research" the subject of Economics does NOT need. There is no theoretical proposition in this subject that can be either established or proved by such research. The theories of Economics are best thought through by the economist in an armchair - and then used to confirm reality in the outside world. 


The Science of Economics consists of "looking out from within the consciousness." The importance of Liberty and Property are embedded within our consciousness. 


It is tragic that a columnist who purports to talk "Simply Economics" loses sight of his objective, gets entangled in pointless "empirical research," and then arrives at conclusions that support the ambitions of our Predatory State. 


So I go beyond what I said the other day:

Our poor people need Liberty and Property - and Nothing Else. 

They do NOT need Welfare.

They do NOT need Miseducation.

They do NOT need The Vote.

PS: The picture above is of John Locke, who wrote, in 1691, "where there is no Property, there is no Justice."

More Bad News... And A Song

Two pieces of Bad News from our The State:


First, the fiscal deficit is headed UPWARDS, which means more money printing, and more consequent inflation;


Second, our The State is putting up a new Land Acquisition Bill in Parliament for approval, and this is consistent with socialist "legal plunder" of the Citizens' Properties.


Question: Is The State required to protect property or steal property?


Think about it.


And now, for the song:

Professor Roger Waters fired the first shot - a great big cannonball, like Cannonball Adderley.


Here is the second shot - Cannonball Adderley with Count Basie and the Big Band. I mean "Atomic Basie"!


All that jazz!


Here goes:

We Don't Need No Legislation 

by 

Baba Pagal Nath Charsi 

We don't need no legislation, 

We don't need no man-made rules, 

Property must be protected, 

Freedom must be ours too. 

Hey! 

MP! 

Leave our spliffs alone! 

Hey! 

MP! 

Leave our lands alone! 

Hey! 

MP! 

Leave our lives alone!

All along you're just another,

Prick in The House. 

That's right, just another, 

Prick in The House!

How do y'all like it? Some more verses will have to be composed.

Next step: To get a band together to play it.

Baba Pagal Nath Charsi & The Ganjeras.

Money for nothing, 

Chicks for free, 

Play my guitar on the MTV!

Ha ha ha.

Private Property Is The Name Of The Game

There is a "natural order" in our crowded urban bazaars only because we ALL follow the Golden Rule of Property - which is, "possession is nine-tenths of the law." Thus, the street vendor is assumed to be the Proprietor of the goods arrayed before him - and if we desire any of them, we effect a "mutually agreeable trade," which is nothing but an "exchange of properties." Thus, without any legal paperwork, billions of rupees worth of goods and services are traded in our bazaars daily.


This business of Private Property is something that socialists and communists do NOT understand. They despise Private Property and want to "nationalise" all that we own. They don't see themselves as Protectors of Property. On the contrary, they see their role as Property Robbers - which is why they are so keen on a New, Improved Land Acquisition Act.


But think about it: Suppose it were announced today that everything in Bangalore is "common property," what would be the result? Obviously, there would ensue TOTAL CHAOS. Anyone who wanted something would just take it from its rightful owner - and claim this in the name of the "communist brotherhood."


And what are our State-owned factories and companies? Do "we the people" own them? Or are they "economically exploited" by some people - politicians and bureaucrats - who "claim to represent the people." Just as we CANNOT party on the lawns of a ministerial bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi - and the bungalow is the "private property" of someone who "claims to represent the people."


Collective Property is FICTION - unless it means streets, footpaths and parks and gardens.


All PSUs must be sold off.


And Private Property must be made INVIOLABLE by all - including The State.


That is the Key to Capitalism - and also the Key to Liberty.


As long as you can do what you choose to in your own Property - and none can interfere - you are FREE.


So, to sum up the discussions under the head "Second Republic" so far:


1. I began saying how the CONgress claimed to have fought a "Freedom Struggle" - but they never gave us freedom. They gave us a State - which is the NEGATION of freedom. They fought for POWER - and they are still fighting for POWER. Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi are also fighting for POWER. We need to fight for freedom - freedom from The State.


2. I then pointed out that the BASIC POLITICAL UNIT of the Second Republic must be free-trading and self-governing cities and towns. I explained why.


3. And, today, I pointed out that Private Property holds the key - to liberty, and to prosperity, and to Capitalism and even Civilisation itself.

The Trial Of chacha manmohan s gandhi - Part 4: Take #2

Today, I will discuss the Corruption of The Law; and this is particularly relevant because chacha's hand-picked, chosen "human resource destruction" minister is a socialist lawyer. In any case, what "human resource" are they talking about when all the minds of all the kids are being poisoned with the gloom  of the "population problem"?

It has been my proud privilege to have influenced some students of Law from SDM Law College, Mangalore, who invited me to lecture there. One of them, in fact, won the All-India Moot Court Competition, and would certainly have made an excellent lawyer. I gave them much to read, including, of course, Frederic Bastiat's classic essay The Law, with my foreword. None of these good boys joined the legal profession. They said the profession itself was corrupt.

The Law is corrupted when we confuse it with Democratic Legislation. Law is eternal, and universal; and true Law is all about Property. Legislation is man-made, passed in a "house of representatives" by the majority of the day; and legislation is forever changing. There is no "Certainty of the Law" with legislation. Indeed, our Constitution itself has been amended some 100 times in 50 years; likewise, even the Representation of People Act is not what it used to be. 

And this Socialist Constitution does not uphold Private Property. Thus, instead of protecting Property, our The State engages in ceaseless violations of what is ours. This is how The State becomes a thief. As Bastiat put it in his opening remarks, "the Law becomes guilty of the very crimes it is supposed to punish." This is what Socialism is all about: what Bastiat called "legal plunder." Indira Gandhi legally plundered Air India, banks, insurance companies and coal mines from their "rightful owners." And Parliament passed all the Acts of Nationalisation.

But it doesn't stop there.

Legislation is the Instrument of Socialist Interventionism. Each and every piece of legislation aims at "social engineering." Thus, the license-permit raj was based on an Industries (Development & Regulation) Act. Similarly, it is the Telecom Regulation Act that has caused the 2G scam. Regulation, as Professor Deepak Lal pointed out, is their "New Dirigisme." 


Similarly, the evil prohibition of ganja is because of some such Act of Parliament. All this evil socialist legislation is in violation of Property. All this legislation takes away our Liberty. 

And things get worse: these corrupt both the bureaucracy as well as Democracy itself. Bureaucrats get "empowered" to intervene in The Market. They call it "regulation of the market" but it is really "regulation of people." In effect, these socialist-democrats do not know what "civil services" are meant for. It is noteworthy that they renamed the Indian Civil Service and it became the Indian Administrative Service. There is nothing "civilian" under Socialism. There is no "civilisation" either, as we can all see.

Democracy is likewise corrupted. No longer are Members of Parliament "representatives of constituencies." Rather, they all become representatives of some "special interest group" or the other. One represents steel, another represents mining, another fertilisers - and this is how they corrupt the working of all the "parliamentary committees." Constituencies lie neglected - and we can see this all around us. Votes are bought and sold. The public choice literature calls it "log rolling" - but it might be better to call it "vote trading." 


This is particularly true of the Democracy of the USSA. PJ O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores is a must read. O'Rourke is HL Mencken Fellow of Cato Institute and also Foreign Affairs editor of Rolling Stone magazine. All you rockers out there should read all his books. In particular, Bono, who is being misled about Third World poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. 


Serious students should read both the books Ludwig von Mises has written against interventionism, pointing out how it leads inevitably to Socialism and also how it corrupts Democracy. It is because of interventionism that the USA has become the USSA. General Motors has been nationalised!

Now, lawyers are themselves a "special interest group." And they are particularly dangerous because they are a "self-regulating profession" - like MBBS doctors. Lawyers teach lawyers, and only lawyers become judges. And what do you think they teach? They teach the ugly lie that democratic legislation is true Law. This is "legal positivism." Utter crap. It is this that corrupts the Law and empowers all the interventionists. Predators, all.

And chacha has chosen one of these miseducated socialist lawyers to teach all the kids; that too, by FORCE.

Is he not guilty of the very crime that poor ol' Socrates was executed for by Athenian Democracy: "Corrupting the minds of the youth"?

Stay tuned for the concluding part of this Prosecution. Part 5 will appear tomorrow, Inshallah.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

The Constitution of India, the longest written constitution in the world, has a chapter mandating the "fundamental duties of the citizen." But it says nothing of the fundamental duties of The State it establishes, nor any limit to its powers, for it does not even guarantee the citizenry security in their properties. Even as I write, the Socialist Supreme Court is discussing the merits and demerits of forcible "land acquisition" by our The State.

In all our cities and towns, there is garbage all over the place. Their is dirt, filth and stench. Flies and mosquitoes proliferate - causing disease and even death. Many die of dengue fever in Nude Elly every year, a disease caused by a particular kind of mosquito.

In the meanwhile, our The State pretends to look after our health. There is a Ministry of Health, whose last incumbent, a political flyweight from Madras, banned smoking in public places; and this includes "private places" like restaurants and bars. 

But there is so much garbage in public places!

I discovered another such pretension yesterday as I examined my bottle of Carlsberg beer. The label says: "By Appointment to the King of Denmark." In other words, this sovereign recommends this fine beer to his subjects - and to the world at large. However, just alongside this solemn proclamation, our The State has FORCED the manufacturers to add their mandatory warning:

Consumption of Alcohol is Injurious to Health.

This displays ignorance; not only medical ignorance, but also historical ignorance. In the old days, no one drank water in the cities of Europe, because the water was full of germs. They drank beer - which is boiled before fermentation. They drank wine.

In India, our people do NOT drink beer or wine - because these have been overtaxed; and these high taxes have encouraged tipplers to go for hard liquor instead. Hard liquor on a daily basis is most certainly injurious to the health. You don't need a doctor to tell you that. You know how sick you feel the morning after.

Indeed, as I was travelling from Madras to Pondicherry, I passed the State-owned arrack factory. I remembered the stench from the old days. I drank this arrack once, with some rickshaw-wallahs in Madras - and it was horrible. If trade was free, arrack-drinkers would have Sri Lankan arrack, which tastes better than any Scotch whisky. Take my word for it.

Beer and wine are consumed by poor people in the West. Anthony Sampson, in his The Anatomy of Britain, records that when Labour Party meetings are held, beer is served, while when the Conservatives meet, it is champagne that flows. I read a biography of Michaelangelo once, in which it was mentioned that this great sculptor survived on wine and bread when he was poor.

Let us move on to tobacco. This is something new in India, for we have always been smokers of ganja, which is non-addictive and good not only for the health, but also the mind. It delivers the smoker a "mild euphoria": that is, it makes him "happy." It also expands the mind, which is why sadhus, while lighting a chillum, say "Alakh! Khol de Teesri Palak." Translated: "Shiva! Open my Third Eye." It is the Philosopher's Drug.

Our The State has prohibited ganja and charas - something even the Brits did not do - while unleashing tobacco upon us. And there too, it has FORCED manufacturers to place ugly "health warning" signs on cigarette packets:

Smoking Kills.

But flies and mosquitoes kill too. And they are caused by garbage.

Tobacco does NOT kill. Deng Xiao Ping smoked 90 cigarettes a day - and lived a long and happy life, during which he transformed China, throwing out Maoist Communism and replacing it with (flawed) Capitalism. 


And there is much more to tobacco than ITC cigarettes. There are cigars and cigarillos; there is pipe and rolling tobacco. All these have been blocked entry into our markets by the Customs Department. Personally, I prefer cigarillos to cigarettes - but here in India, you never get them.

I perceived this great hypocrisy on the part of our The State while in the swank Rajiv Gandhi Airport in Hyderabad. There, they did have two tiny "smoking rooms" for people like me. I pointed out to my fellow smokers there that the Hyderabad region is famous for its tobacco. I also pointed out that the last Nizam of Hyderabad chain-smoked the cheroots that his subjects produced. These locally made cheroots are NOT available in this airport. Meanwhile, the poor masses are smoking awful bidis. Open a bidi sometime and check out the tobacco within it, both quantity and quality. If cigarettes were not taxed, no one would smoke bidis. And if they could freely sell their mahua and handia, no forest-dweller would waste time picking tendu leaves.

In either case, we are dying on the streets. Over 200,000 Indians (and quite a few tourists, too) are killed on our unsafe streets and "notional highways" every year. This, while the State Police are working ever so hard on VVIP Security. They are working hard on "security concerns" that range from the Taliban to all the jehadis and terrorists and Maoists and Naxalites. Yet, they cannot look after our health on the streets. 

Making our streets safe requires no "intelligence." It does not require universal ID cards. It does not require phone tapping or e-mail interception or all the other kinds of snooping that these cops of ours are so good at. It requires Science. We must import experts in this Science. We must import experts in road design and engineering too.

And as for the Socialist Constitution of India - it is garbage itself. It needs to be dumped. We need a constitution that mandates duties for mayors - like the collection of garbage and the protection of life on the streets.

We are a very clean people. Our bodies, our homes, our kitchens - they are always spic-and-span. In Pondicherry, they wash the pavement outside their homes every morning and decorate it with a pretty rice-paste design. It is a crying shame that all our cities and towns are such a complete mess. 

This was not the case in British times. Sir Bartle Frere, while Governor of Bombay, received a letter from Florence Nightingale congratulating him on the fact that Bombay had a LOWER death rate than London! In Calcutta, the streets were WASHED every morning, and there are still to be found the hydrants installed for the purpose. Of course, these are no longer working.

Let us then think of a New Constitution. One based on the Inviolability of Private Property. And one which prescribes duties for mayors of cities and towns - while leaving the people Free. 

Free to smoke whatever they like. Free to drink whatever they like. Free to engage in commerce with the world outside. 

Free!

It's Humans versus Apes

The Science of Economics begins with an understanding of the "logical structure of the human mind" and the mental "categories" embedded within it. The first of these categories is Property - or the ability to distinguish what is "mine" from what is "thine." This, indeed, is the basis of trade - for when we trade we trade properties - and this category is exhibited by all good little children when they say to one another, "give me some of YOUR chips and I will give you some of MY cola."

With the onset of maturity, this mental category of Property develops into the category of Capital - and is exhibited even by illiterate nomadic herdsmen who carefully oversee the size of their herds to ensure that their Property, which is their Capital, does not decrease. In other words, a third category is also present, and that is Income. The human mind naturally possesses the ability to distinguish between Capital and Income in order to ensure that capital is not being consumed; rather, it is being accumulated. This accumulation of Capital is the basis of civilisation. 

This "economic calculation" is nothing but basic Arithmetic. Nothing more advanced is required in The Market. Advanced math is for the physical sciences - not the Science of Economics.

When trading individuals interact in busy markets, it is the category of Property, embedded in each human mind, that ensures perfect order prevails. No posses of armed policemen are required to "maintain order" in any crowded bazaar because everyone knows what is "mine" and what is "not mine" and that in order to obtain desired objects, he must trade some Property of his own.

This is the Human Being. And this is Capitalism - embedded in all our minds.

Let us now turn to our closest cousins - the apes.

Apes cannot trade. If a horde of monkeys descends upon a fruit market, widespread plunder will ensue. This is Thomas Hobbes' "war of each against all." Poor Hobbes. He had never seen a monkey ever. And he was a mathematician to boot. Dangerous people, these mathematicians. Both Mises and Hayek studied Law - that is, the "rules of the game." That is how we understand how society works.

Let us now turn to Socialism - which is the "ideal" upon which the Constitution of India is based. Socialists believe in the nationalisation of all Property. They despise markets and traders. Thus, they do not possess the mental category all decent little boys and girls are blessed with by their Creator. They have been created without this mental category - and thus, they are exactly like our closest cousins, the apes. They are NOT human.

The nationalisation of private property, the forcible acquisition of private lands, the cops and other State functionaries who prey on businessmen - they are all ape-like. Of course, they are supposed to be "trained." But then, as I found out to my utter shock and disbelief some years ago, the Professor of Economics at the elite IAS Academy at Mussoorie is a Marxist! An ape.

Let us now turn to the Law.

In the "natural order" of decent human beings trading peacefully in markets, where Property is respected, no outside Law is required. No "legislation" - which would be an interference. Of course, in our more advanced times, other facets of Property would have to be upheld in Law - and these are Contracts and Torts. All three - Property, Contracts, and Torts - are "private law." Human society can happily exist, and human civilisation can gallop along, without any "democratic legislation" at all - such as the prohibition of ganja, or gambling, or alcohol, or anything else. People are free to harm themselves, but they are not free to harm others or their properties - which would be a Tort, for which compensation would have to be paid. Thus, in such a private law world, there would be no "crimes"; or, in effect, all crimes would be torts; that is, they would be crimes against individuals and their properties. There would be no "crimes against The State or its interfering parliaments."

The ape-like character of democratic legislation is best demonstrated in India by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) - which many called "draconian" but it was I who first deemed it to be "immoral." When the central banker cannot convert his paper note into money, it is he who ought to be in prison: a "debtor's prison," where traditionally such plunderers have been kept on a diet of bread and water until they repay their dues through the auction of their assets. Thus, the Enforcement Directorate, which murdered Rajan Pillai, harassed Ashok Jain to death, jailed and humiliated KL Chugh - these guys belong to the planet of the apes. The judges who tried cases under FERA, the lawyers who pleaded before them - they are all apes.

Lawyers are very dangerous people, too. Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Patel - they were all lawyers. So was Abraham Lincoln - and look what he did to the USSA. Lawyers are a "self-regulating profession" just like medical doctors. Lawyers teach lawyers, and lawyers alone become judges. So, just as we have "medical malpractice" we also have "legal malpractice." This is our precise condition.

Now, the Central State's Minister for "Free and Compulsory" Education is a socialist lawyer!

Wanna go to his schools?

So what should a Constitution of Liberty look like?

I will expound on that tomorrow. It will be very brief - unlike the socialist Constitution of India, which is the longest written constitution in the world.

Stay tuned.

New City, East Coast, Same Old Story

I am now in Bhubanashwar, the capital of Orissa - a very old civilisation. I am close to the Sun Temple of Konarak and the beaches of Puri. But I don't see any tourists about. Although ganja is legal here. I bought some from a legit shop - and the up-market hotel I checked into didn't serve beer: LICENSE! What a change from Goa - where beer is legit and ganja isn't. Is this the same country, with one parliament, and the same laws?

The scenery from the train window was wonderful throughout - starting with the splendour of the Western Ghats through the rocky landscape of the plateau right through to the quiet beauty of the Eastern Ghats. What a beautiful country we live in, I thought. And how much free space - abundant is the word to describe how much land we possess to live in. I saw so much unowned, uncultivated land - including all the mountains, each and every one.

My travelling companion was a naval officer whose village lay, he said, 25 kms out of Bhubaneshwar. He said he owned 7 acres of "agrilcultural land" - and added that the going rate for such land was about Rs. 1,25,000 an acre. He added that you cannot build a residence on such land - LICENSE!

I noticed that all the cities and towns I passed through were uniformely ugly and overcrowded: Dharwar-Hubli, Bellary, and the coastal cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa I passed through in the morning, like Vizianagaram.

The naval officer disembarked at Khurda Road - just 15 short of Bhubaneshwar. I saw only open land all through this 15 km journey. And when I arrived in Bhubaneshwar, it was overcrowded and traffic was impossible. Chaos, Dirt and filth. And there is no road to the upmarket hotel I now live in - just a patlee gullee. And there is an E-Class Mercedes parked within. I asked the guy how does the car get in and out. He grimaced. The morning newspaper was full of ads for cars. And Bhubaneshwar is a "new city" - like Chandigarh and Gandhinagar. 

Made me think that we suffer from the predatory rule of "urban development authorities" that are entirely unelected - and these monopolise the supply of urban (residential and commercial) land as well as roads. We are being squeezed dry by these twin administrative monopolies. This is where we need "democracy" - so I champion urban self-rule and not grameen swaraj - which is nonsense. 

The newspaper contained a photo of some urban "demolition" going on in nearby Cuttack. Same old story.

There was also a story of some "land acquisition" in and around the port of Paradip by The State for the Korean firm Posco. Why does Paradip, the deepest port in India, only export iron ore and bauxite, and import nothing? Why can't Property be Protected and why can't Posco buy land?

The train offered me an opportunity to think up an example of the Primacy of Private Property. I had a reserved berth in a 2AC compartment. My temporary property right was protected by the guard - and no one was allowed to infringe my absolute right to possess that berth undisturbed.

Yet, there were thousands of poor people hanging out of two unreserved 2nd Class compartments ahead of mine. What would have happened if Property did not exist? Obviously, everyone would have occupied everything and chaos would ensue. In a communist society a "comrade" would come up and demand the keys of your car in the name of "brotherhood." It is this "brotherhood" that is stealing land outside Paradip. It is as if my railway guard had allowed all the unreserved 2nd-classwallahs to take over my berth. What is the "Role of the State" in a Free Society? To protect Property? Or to prey on it?

"Peace, Freedom and Justice are the three blessings of Civilisation," said Bastiat - and that Justice is ultimately founded on the Principle of the Inviolability of Private Property. And the value of "agricultural land" increases with roads. People spread out - and there is lebensraum. Overcrowding ends. There is no "population problem." Bollocks! This is a shortage of roads.

This is the Predatory Urban Development (or should we say "Destruction") Authority.

The fourth blessing of Civilisation is beautiful cities. Think about it. And compare our current civilisation to that of the ancients.

Read about Baba Ramdev's "call to arms." Give him Haridwar, I say. Let him be the Mayor of that Holy City - where you can freely smoke ganja-charas on the ghats, with all the other "holy men." Why then, maybe I'll drop by in Hardwar to have a smoke along the Ganga.

Bum Lehri! Tere Jata Se Ganga Behri!

Bengal - As A "Nation Of Shopkeepers"

While some have concluded, quite correctly, that the West Bengal elections were won and lost on the issue of Private Property, this blog took the point further and argued that, for the new regime, road-construction must be a top priority, because roads automatically increase the value of lands they link to. Oddly enough, the news has it that the Mamata Banerjee government has 35 ministers - but no mention is made of a roads minister!

Today, there is another piece of news from Calcutta that suggests roads must be top priority. Referring to Calcutta's street hawkers, this news report concludes with the following paragraph:

The Chief Minister said she had been holding discussions with officials concerned for improving the traffic system that would entail, among other things, widening of some roads without evicting hawkers on the pavements.

Why are there so many street hawkers in Calcutta? Two reasons: First, Calcutta is the only Big City - and so it attracts migrants like a magnet; and second, these migrants cannot afford to buy shops. How will roads help?

With roads into the surrounds, satellite towns would develop, and more and more commercial property would be built, bringing down the cost of shops. In time, more and more of these hawkers would become regular shop-owners. That is the direction in which Bengal must proceed - build roads so as to urbanise aggressively; and put an end to zoning rules so that commercial property grows without any legal restrictions.

The West was also like this. I recall visiting the ancient City of Cologne in Germany some years back, and walking about its markets with a local journalist who told me that, in the olden days, one of the legal responsibilities of the City Mayor was to oversee the smooth conduct of all business on the streets: that is, business conducted by street hawkers and vendors. 

My guide told me that in ancient times, poor people from afar would travel to Cologne to sell their wares in its markets - and the Mayor had to look after their interests. But now, said my guide, everyone owns a shop - and this legal responsibility has recently been deleted from the duties of the City Mayor. The same can happen in West Bengal - a state that has many big cities and towns apart from Calcutta. Economic progress ought to mean that street-hawkers become shopkeepers.

Of course, western cities still have informal markets and street hawkers can still be found - as in Amsterdam - but these are run by quite prosperous folk, and they rake in bigger profits than regular shopkeepers because tourists prefer to shop in such informal markets. And overhead costs in informal markets are quite low.

It is also my opinion that aiming for a Bengal that is a "nation of shopkeepers" would totally destroy the appeal of Communism, which has held the average Bengali in its thrall for decades - and encouraged him to become a government clerk: a baboo. Indeed, the very word is Bengali. 

Bengal was the first province in India to be ruled by by the British - and it was Napoleon who ridiculed the British by calling them "a nation of shopkeepers." Napoleon preferred France to be "a nation of patriotic soldiers" - but it was Britain and not France that emerged victorious. It was the nation of shopkeepers that ruled the world. Mises says something noteworthy about these shopkeepers - and the civilisation they begat:

The much abused shopkeepers have abolished slavery and serfdom, made woman the companion of man with equal rights, proclaimed equality before the law and freedom of thought and opinion, declared war on war, abolished torture, and mitigated the cruelty of punishment. What cultural force can boast of similar achievements?

The Brits built all the great markets of Calcutta - the very old "New Market" was built by Sir Stuart Hogg - and a section of it is still named after him.

Bengal has voted for poriborton - or "change." Let that change first emerge in ideology. Let Capitalism replace Communism.  The common people of West Bengal, the peasants and the workers, swallowed all the commie propaganda - and lost. Lost badly. For them, I have another noteworthy quote from Mises:

There is but one way toward an increase of real wage rates for all those eager to earn wages: the progressive accumulation of new capital and the improvement of technical methods of production which the new capital brings about. The true interests of labor coincide with those of business.

So, it not only Private Property that matters for Bengal's future. It is the entire Capitalist prescription that needs to be implemented - beginning with Free Trade, so that all the swanking new shops will have shelves overflowing with the best goods from all over the world. Calcutta Port must become a very busy port. Since this is a river port, some deep water sea ports must also be found.

And add Sound Money to the list - for the same news report quoted above talks about Mamata Banerjee's "rice for 2 rupees a kg" scheme for the poor in Jangalmahal: the area where Maoism / Naxalism is rife. This may be necessary now, for where there is no peace there can be no market. Peace is another prescription for Bengal - if she wants Capitalism.  But so long as this cheap rice is paid for by printed paper rupees, it makes no sense - for the cost of everything else rises: inflation.

Thus, the poriborton that Bengal needs is just this: 

Communism must be replaced by Capitalism.

No more a "nation of baboos."

From now on, let Bengal be a Nation of Shopkeepers!


PS: Part 2 of this post can be read here.

On Pornography... And Private Property

The photo alongside this post is from Khajuraho - that too, from a temple there - and my purpose is to illustrate the fact that ours used to be a sexually liberated society. Not any more. Not even in the internet age. Today, despite the internet, Playboy magazine - which once published an interview with Ayn Rand - is banned. Though thanks to "import substitution" we do have our desi version - Debonair - of which a great man like Vinod Mehta was once editor.

I was drawn to this subject by a report in the ToI which begins as follows:

Consumption of pornography is no offence. All that the law forbids is its publication or transmission. If the railway police in Mumbai could still terrorise an IIT student, just by claiming that his mobile phone stored pornographic video, they were riding roughshod over his human rights.

Once again, the only way out is the Inviolability of Private Property. It begins with the human body, and each of us is the Sole Proprietor of his or her body. We can thus display this body unclothed - if we choose to do so. Some of us do possess bodies that others consider beautiful - the "subjective" factor - and we can take advantage of this fact by posing naked for money. We can pose for stills - or for films. These stills and films will be shot in studios - which are also private property. These shots will be printed in magazines - private property once again, as are reels of film. Finally, these will be displayed in magazine shops or movie theatres, which are private property, too. The audience that buys the magazines now possesses them as private property. Similarly, those who buy tickets to see blue films possess temporary property rights to be seated in the theatre. If private property is inviolable by all, including The State, all is hunky-dory, none can interfere, and business can carry on as usual.

Now, a strange kind of man-made law like the IT Act, which allows the consumption of porn but not its production or distribution, is not unlike the Narcotics & Psychotropic Substances Act which allows smoking ganja but not its cultivation or sale. But as any ganja smoker will tell you, how can one peacefully smoke ganja if farmers cannot peacefully grow it and dealers cannot peacefully sell it? Such man-made laws are stupid - not based on any sound principle, like Private Property.

Private Property must be inviolable if we are to be completely free. Even immigration restrictions can be shown to violate property: for example, if one rents property in the US, even a hotel room, and if one is not allowed to enter the country, then the immigration authorities can be shown to have violated the property rights of both the foreigner who has rented it and the American citizen who owns it. Thus, a great deal depends on this principle - Complete Freedom.

Mises wrote something very important about Private Property:

Private property creates for the individual a sphere in which he is free of the state. It sets limits to the operation of the authoritarian will. It allows other forces to arise side by side with and in opposition to political power.

With our Socialist Constitution which glorifies "collective property," we have very little Liberty to celebrate. All we have are Air India, SAIL, ONGC et. al. What would you choose? PSUs or Liberty?

Hence, a New Constitution is an imperative. We must proceed forthwith to The Second Republic. We must be free! Liberty!