Freedom - A Bundle of Sticks

In theory, if a property owner has all the sticks the fullest possible degree of ownership exists. However, if the property has a mortgage the lender has a stick. Similarly, building codes, tax assessments or mechanic’s liens are also claims on the sticks of ownership.

The potential number of sticks held by others is lengthy and any given property can be so encumbered that the ownership bundle consists of little more than a Title – a piece of paper. In a worst-case scenario, the titled owner may be forced to relinquish all residual interest to satisfy outstanding debts - selling the farm so-to-speak.

As I wondered through this recollection, I began to understand why my subconscious was clamoring for attention. The bundle of sticks metaphor came to mind because I was trying to make sense of the increasing talk about socialism. Polls show that Americans are increasingly amenable to socialism - more on that in a minute.

A myriad of government proposals exists ranging from free education, Medicare for all, guaranteed jobs and incomes, forgiveness of student loans, social reparations, and the list goes on. Petitioning government to provide “free stuff” is the favored ploy of patronizing politicians - is it finding increasingly receptive audiences? The implications are impossible to ignore as what appears to be free always has a cost.

America’s revolutionary founders had something else in mind. They knew first-hand the tyranny of kings and lords who exercised near unlimited powers over their subjects. To ensure the new republic would prosper it would be guided by a constitution generous of citizen rights and very limiting of governmental powers.

Therefore, the rights enumerated in the U.S. Constitution metaphorically are a citizen’s “bundle of sticks.” These sticks or rights could never be subservient to government or man. The Founders knew that rights left undefended, like a heavily encumbered property, are at risk of diminished asset value and even total loss. Once rights are surrendered a citizen of the republic is transformed from a sovereign to a government dependent.

Gallop polls in recent years have shown a trend toward greater acceptance of socialism, especially among the young ages 18-29. Since it is unlikely that poll respondents share a mutual understanding of socialism, these surveys deserve a degree of skepticism. However, current social trends show that equal outcomes (social equity) are challenging the more traditional embrace of equality of opportunity (freedom of choice) as the preferred perspective.

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Socialism in its most extreme state is government ownership of all the sticks. What job or education one wishes to pursue or decisions about where one lives or travels are no longer private individual choices but rather government prescriptions. Most socialist systems start gradually by creating economic dependencies, but they eventually falter due to inherently regressive, bureaucratic, and economic inefficiencies, and eventual loss of citizen support.

So, the question might be, “how many sticks can be relinquished to socialism before individual sovereignty loses its constitutionally defined meaning?” Is there a tipping point where the conversion arrives suddenly, or does it arrive with an insidious slowness undetected and irreversible?

I suspect it is the latter, an uncomplicated process of acclimation that allows memories, habits, and traditional ways of thinking to fade. A point is eventually reached where a new normal exists and title to the sticks of citizenship is lost to posterity.

As we ponder the confiscatory nature of socialism, we may want to ask, “are we going to remain a country of property owners with choices and opportunities?” Or will we sell the farm and become mere tenants of an increasingly powerful and constraining government landlord?

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