Foundations of Freedom Episode 1: The Power of Property Rights

What can spoons and sheep teach us about property rights? Timothy Sandefur has the answer.

This week, we released the first in a series of new videos called “Foundations of Freedom,” featuring Sandefur discussing our individual liberties, their philosophical underpinnings, and what they mean to us today.

In the first video, “The Power of Property,” Sandefur discusses why private property is fundamental to our individual freedoms. You can’t have freedom of the press if you’re not allowed to own a press. You can’t have freedom of religion if the government owns all the churches. You can’t have privacy rights if nobody can own a home.

From ancient Greece to the Soviet Union to the present day, private property has helped us plan for the future, leave something to future generations, and express and understand who we are. It’s as fundamental to the human personality as language or music or storytelling. As Sandefur explains, private property matters to you because it belongs to you.

Watch the video here, and watch the full Foundations of Freedom series here.