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Most of us pay a high price for our place on the earth. Some clever investors and some lucky people who were born earlier than us bought the earth, and the rest of us must buy or rent from them if we want to build a home, start a business, moor a boat, graze our sheep, generate energy, or grow some food.
Paying for our place on earth particularly hurts people with low wages, and those who want to contribute to our society in other ways than just by working for money. We can never relax. If we have paid for our food, then we worry about the mortgage; then we need to care about our children. They in turn need to get a university degree to have a bearable life in an expensive world. And so it goes.
Why do we need to pay for what nature has provided for free? Our world has finite space and natural resources. The reality is that we cannot all have unlimited amounts of land and other natural resources without hindering others. We need a way to minimize disputes, and maximize our liberty to live how we prefer while still protecting the land and its resources.
Our present system of earth ownership is an attempt to solve this. Most of the earth has become private property. This system has some great advantages that we need to consider. If we pay money, we can become private owners of a piece of land, which contributes to our liberty. Within certain limits, the government allows us to decide for ourselves how to use our piece of land. If we want to have more land, we can always buy some, if we can afford it. This kind of free market system promotes efficient use of land to a certain degree.
However, land rights are the source of a lot of misery. In industrial countries, many people are unfree because land is unaffordable. For many people, becoming an owner of some of the earth is almost impossible. They need to pay rent to a landlord, or pay off a mortgage for the rest of their lives. It’s hard for these people to start their own company. People who can buy some land are better off, but still need to work hard for many years before they actually own the space they need to live or to run their business.
Land rights are also an issue for indigenous peoples, although in a slightly different way. Peasant farmers, hunter-gatherers and shepherds constantly fear being driven off their land. Their governments are eager to cede the land they live on to foreign investors.
The earth should be seen as a present to mankind. People remove weeds and build roads and buildings, but they did not create the earth and its natural resources. If we look at it this way, we can understand that it’s strange that we need to pay for something that Mother Nature provided.
However, if we are going to propose alternatives to the present system of earth ownership, we must be aware that most options would be worse than the present system. We should not reintroduce Sovkhozes and Kolkhozes. In a situation of collective ownership, individuals do not own land and are unable to make their own decisions. If they want to use land they need permission from the collective. Abolishing private property may sound noble but usually results in a lack of individual liberty, hunger, and unhappiness.
Collective ownership is not the only alternative for the present system of earth ownership, however. Individuals should have some natural resources, such as a place to build a house or to run a business for free. Individuals should have the option to make their own decisions about this piece of earth, unhindered by a collective. Individuals may work together, as a family or as larger cooperations. But if they want to, they can make their own decision about their own fair share of the earth. This is what a better system of earth ownership should facilitate.
For many of us, the idea that we are entitled to something as valuable as a plot of land for free just sounds too good to be true. Most people are not used to getting expensive things for free. Therefore, we will start with some perspectives from which we may consider the issue of ownership of the earth.
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Thuiswinkel Waarborg