Every system, whether political or economic, rests on one principle: ownership.  It determines how resources are used, how they’re preserved, and how people behave toward them.  Property isn’t just about possession, it’s about responsibility.  When ownership is private, the owner bears the cost of misuse.  When ownership is public, everyone pays the cost, and no one is accountable.

Consider something simple—a garden.  If it’s your garden, you’ll water it, remove weeds, and plan for next season.  If it belongs to everyone, no one waters it.  Each waits for someone else to do it.  The result is neglect.  This isn’t a flaw in morality but in incentives.  Where property is shared, responsibility evaporates.

Now apply that to business.  A privately owned company must satisfy customers to survive.  Its profit depends on voluntary exchange.  If it wastes resources, it fails.  A government agency doesn’t face this same discipline.  Its revenue doesn’t come from customers but from taxpayers.  When it fails, it asks for more funding.  Its mistakes are rewarded with larger budgets.  The worse it performs, the more it claims to need.

Extend that to land or natural resources.  A private owner preserves long-term value.  A political owner maximizes short-term gain.  The politician’s “term” is a lease, not ownership.  He’ll deplete what he can before he’s replaced.  The monarch, by contrast, has his capital tied to the land.  He thinks in generations.  His children inherit both his wealth and his mistakes.  That’s why historical monarchs often cared more about stability than democratic leaders do.  They couldn’t simply move on after the damage was done.

Now extend this logic to nations.  A country with private ownership of property produces citizens who act like owners.  A country with collective ownership produces subjects who act like tenants.  The tenant expects maintenance, direction, and protection.  The owner builds, repairs, and defends what’s his.  The spirit of ownership breeds independence, the spirit of subservience breeds dependence.

That’s why “public” is so often a euphemism for “no one.” Public money, public property, public responsibility—these sound noble but dissolve under scrutiny.  What belongs to everyone belongs to no one in particular.  When no one owns it, no one protects it.  The tragedy of the commons isn’t limited to pastures, it applies to every institution where responsibility has been socialized.

Private ownership disciplines desire.  Public ownership indulges it.  One preserves, the other consumes.  One builds for the future, the other spends the present.  Civilization itself depends on which principle dominates.

References

Hans Hermann-Hoppe; Democracy—The God That Failed

Murray Rothbard; The Ethics of Liberty