Ideas Have Consequences: Chap. 7 (Part 2)

In the last post we talked about truth and virtue and Weaver is on the brink of revealing how we can turn back the clock.  His solution: private property.

I was VERY surprised by his choice but he explains it clearly and the gist of it is "that it does not depend on any test of social usefulness" - it can't be turned into something that is utilitarian.   He also clearly explains that he is discussing real property and small businesses not large corporations, stocks or even intellectual property.  He is really advocating small farms and local businesses.  How does this fit in with virtue?

Providence 

Weaver believes that private property develops what he terms providence or foresight.  He is talking about how it

takes into account the nonpresent that it calls for the exercise of reason and imagination.  That I reap now the reward of my past industry or sloth, that what I do today will be felt in that future now potential - these require play of mind.

At the end of the last chapter his final question was "Where can it find a source of discipline?"  His answer is that private property has an ability to help discipline us.  He gives two helpful examples of how private property or industry used to develop virtue.

First he discusses that "it was the practice of a maker to give his name to the product, and pride of family was linked up with maintenance of quality."   Companies are rarely family enterprises anymore and with name branding - there is little honor any longer.  

He then talks about the difference between a man building a house for his family and a man buying a house for his family.  Those who built their own homes took pride in their work and intended it to shelter their family for generations - and they do.  In our current world we buy houses that are not built to last and there is no thought that our children will live there - we might not even live there for more than a few years.  Saving for a future, planning ahead for those who come after us, are an important part of how private property can develop virtue.

Private Gone Public 

Weaver does realize that private property is under attack and he has some strong words about what may happen as a result.

for, when properties are vast and integrated, on a scale now frequently seen, it requires but a slight step to transfer them to state control.   

Indeed, it is a commonplace that the trend toward monopoly is a trend toward state ownership; and, if we continued the analysis further, we should discover that business develops a bureaucracy which can be quite easily merged with that of government.  

no society is healthful which tells its members to take no thought of the morrow because the state underwrites their future.

Where popular majorities may, on a plea of present need, override these rights earned by past effort, the tendency is for all persons to become politicians.  In other words, they come to feel that manipulation is a greater source of reward than is production.  This is the essence of corruption.  

Just one quick comment.  Once again, Weaver draws together two things that we normally put on opposite ends: big business and government.

I now have a much better appreciation for the role private property can play in developing virtue, discipline and encouraging us to exercise our freedom - who knew?