Who truly owns what is called “public property”?  Only the individual can own and control what is his, and property ownership is a fundamental requirement of human existence. If ownership is shared among all, then no one truly owns it.  The idea of “public ownership” is a contradiction.  Property can only belong to an individual or a voluntary group of individuals who have agreed to share its use.  Anything else is control through force.

If property is controlled by the state, it is not owned by “the people” but by those who wield political power.  The individual cannot freely use or dispose of it.  If something belongs to “everyone,” then in practice, it belongs to the ruling authority that dictates its use.  The state, in claiming ownership over land, infrastructure, or resources, asserts control over what it has not voluntarily acquired.  This is not ownership—it is expropriation.

Private property is defined by exclusion.  If one person owns a watch, no one else has a legitimate claim to it unless the owner voluntarily transfers it.  If the state declares a piece of land or a business to be “public,” it’s seizing it under the pretense of collective ownership.  Collective ownership is an illusion.  A resource can’t belong to both everyone and no one at the same time.  Either property is owned and managed voluntarily, or it is dictated and rationed by a coercive authority.

If an individual is forced to contribute to “public goods,” it’s not voluntary exchange but confiscation.  Taxation, regulation, and eminent domain are all based on the same principle: removing property from its rightful owner under the threat of violence.  It doesn’t matter whether this confiscation is small or large—it is still a violation of ownership. The state, by necessity, enforces its claims through coercion.  To deny this is to ignore reality.

To recognize property is to recognize peace.  Any violation of property requires force, and force breeds further conflict.  Public ownership is never peaceful because it requires an entity to enforce its claim, deciding who may use what and under what conditions.  The more public property there is, the less individual sovereignty remains.  The more the state manages, the less the individual controls.

Statism demands public ownership, and public ownership demands coercion.  This is why statism is incompatible with true private property.  The state can’t protect property while simultaneously confiscating it.  The idea of government as the guardian of property is self-contradictory.  To enforce public ownership is to strip individuals of their rightful claims.

Civilization depends on respecting private property.  The alternative is endless conflict over what is supposedly shared.  If property isn’t privately owned, it’s controlled by force.  The rejection of statism is the rejection of institutionalized theft.  Those who value peace must reject the illusion of public ownership and recognize the truth: property belongs to individuals, or it belongs to no one.

References

Ludwig von Mises; Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis

Murray Rothbard; War, Peace, and The State