Beginners Guide to Peace - Mapping the Terrain
“Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life.” - Les Brown
Homesteading and the Recognition of Ownership
More broadly and with regard to land, once any terrestrial resource is homesteaded and a border declared around the encompassing land, ownership of other resources on that plot are usually recognized as property of the original homesteader as well. This is a practical arrangement that
This is not to say that it is necessary for there to be a single static owner of all resources within a given plot. The original inhabitant, for example, could assign or sell rights to various other resources within that plot, granting one party the right to drill for water while giving another party the right to mine. The original homesteader would also have the right to transfer ownership of the land, and some or all resources within, to another party as long as the transfer did not violate any standing agreements with other stakeholders.
Negotiation and Harmonious Order
The musician Wynton Marsalis once described jazz as a series of negotiations. Each player may have his or her own agenda but will work
It is through peaceful negotiations among neighbors that methods for marking and recognizing borders, establishing the maximum range of a claim and resolving potential conflicts can be amicably worked out. All of this can be done without the coercive interference of government.
The so called “Wild West” of the 19th century U.S., for example, was actually much more peaceful under the governance of private enterprise and law enforcement than we have been led to believe. Land clubs and claims associations were often established to protect property rights long before the arrival of any “official” government [3]. Similarly, complicated issues such as the management of radio frequencies were already being worked out in the U.S. in the 1920’s before the federal government laid claim to the entire radio spectrum[4]. Independent standards associations such as the IEEE-SA, whose founding organizations go back to the late 19th century, are fully capable of negotiating and establishing standards for a wide range of wireless electronic devices and others technologies without the oversight or control of any government [5].
The Destructive Force of Government
Unfortunately,
The impact of this
The arrogant disregard by the European powers, and eventually the United States, towards the property rights and the historical claims of peoples in territories they ruled continued well into the twentieth century. The end of World War I, for example, saw
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Essentials
- The Homestead Principle is the application of the first use rule.
- The government practice of Eminent Domain is a violation of the homestead principle and the NAP.
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Notes
1. ^ "The real power of Jazz is that a group of people can come together and create improvised art and negotiate their agendas... and that negotiation is the art" - Wynton Marsalis from Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns.
2. ^ "Ownership is not something that can be seen, heard or touched. It is a trilateral relationship among persons in relation to an object" - Gerard Casey from Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State.
3. ^ "Was the “Wild West” Really So Wild?" - 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask by Tom Woods.
4. ^ "Freedom of Radio and Television" - For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto by Murray N. Rothbard.
5. ^ The IEEE Standards Association
Picture Credits
^ Homesteading: Saami Family, Norway, 1900. Public domain photo downloaded from Wikimedia Commons.