Week II · 13 plates
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The Natural Rights Foundation

Free choice and the fruits of labor

The big idea

Locke argued that life, liberty and estate are not gifts of government. Mixing your labor with the world makes the product yours, and government exists to protect that — by consent, under law, funded by lawful tax.

By the end of this week you can
  • State the labor theory of property in your own words.
  • Distinguish a natural right from a granted benefit.
  • Explain the citizen's side of the bargain: lawfulness and tax.
Lecture hall · Week II

The Natural Rights Foundation

Plate 01 · leading message · use ← → keys

Plate 01
1689

Two rights carry all the others.

The exercise of free choice in every domain of life, and the ownership of the fruits of your labor free from third-party taking. Everything else in an Ownership Society is scaffolding for these two.

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Slides
Reading notes · Week II

What you took from the pages

Write your own notes once you have finished Second Treatise of Government, then revisit them before class. Notes are private to your account and never seen by anyone else.