NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: Property Values

...Demographers speculate that there may be millions of new voters showing up at the polls in November—many of whom will be newly minted citizens, single mothers, low-level government employees, and a host of others who want, or need, something from the government...

...It depends instead on creating and attracting voters who have no commitment to political stability and economic prosperity...

...Until the early 19th century, only property owners were allowed to vote...

...Some of those responsibilities—its care and the necessity not to abuse it for the greater good—may be obvious...

...n o T e f R o M T H e P u b l I s H e R Property Values by alfred s. Regnery Without property of their own, voters have no fixed interest in conserving the property of others, and therefore no reliable commitment to political stability...

...But less so is the fact that in our modern, global world, many irresponsible owners of property simply pass much of the responsibility, and the future costs, on to the government or to the next generation...

...These voters are more interested in having government provide for their own welfare...

...It is an interesting fact that at least one of the leading presidential candidates spent most of her adult years not as a property owner but as a resident of subsidized public housing—first in a governor’s mansion, and later at the federal government’s most prestigious address...

...It is also a pretty good bet that few will own property and, if Paul Johnson is correct, have little reliable commitment to political stability...

...If property provides its owners with certain rights, our colleague Roger Scruton reminds us elsewhere in the current issue, it extracts from them certain responsibilities as well...

...it was at the heart of the American Revolution, at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, and in fact there is little dispute that the adoption of the Constitution was due, in large measure, to the desire to have property protected...

...Those who do own their own homes, says Johnson—correctly, in my opinion—will be more likely to be more resistant to an intrusive state, and more tenacious in defending their own rights...

...As Tom Bethell writes this month, on the tenth anniversary of the publication of his landmark book of property rights, Western progressives have been the last to appreciate their centrality to our freedom and prosperity...

...If the demographers are right, it is a pretty good bet that most will not be as concerned with the welfare of the country as they are with their own, and their votes will go accordingly...

...And don’t expect the mainstream intelligentsia to make the case for property either...

...To put it more boldly, they will be more likely to support right-of-center policies, and less taken in by the demagogues of the left...

...Property, after all, is palpable and physical, it demands responsibility and care, and requires its owner to protect it against those who would take it from him—especially the state...

...Only when she and her husband were in a position to be given vast sums of other people’s money did they purchase real estate—and expensive real estate at that...

...But Paul Johnson advocates instead broader home ownership, particularly among those in the lower income brackets, not only as a way to give them a greater stake in the country’s future, but also to have them build up at least some permanent wealth...

...And thus for the cause of individual liberty property is indispensable...

...So says Paul Johnson in the second essay in our new Templeton series on individual liberty...

...Few would advocate a return to such limitations...

...The founders wanted only those who had a stake in the well-being of the country to determine its future...

...alfred s. Regnery is publisher of The American 6 T H e a M e R I c a n s P e c T a T o R M a R c H 2 0 0 8 Spectator and author of the new book Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism, published by Threshold/Simon & Schuster (and reviewed in this issue on p. 68...

...Conversely, the cause of modern liberalism is ill served by wide property ownership...

...Is it little wonder that her misguided policies and proposals will appeal particularly to those ten million new voters...

...Many, including most of the editors of The American Spectator, would allow that the fact that she and her husband are more interested in their own welfare than that of the country may be attributable to their property holdings, or lack of same...

...Property has thus rightfully always held a special place in the minds of Americans...