“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” – Jean Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
The Editors’ Quote of the Day:
I’m not sure I agree with Rousseau’s, “…and the earth itself to nobody.”, after reading ‘right of possession…’ from Websters and then follows the Lord’s Word on being given ‘dominion over’. Seems to me we do have a right to own land. I’m open to others opinion though.
Websters Dictionary: DOMINION, noun [Latin See Dominant.]
2. Power to direct, control, use and dispose of at pleasure; right of possession and use without being accountable; as the private dominion of individuals.
Genesis 1:26–28:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Roussocialism…
i agree with the above. Not sure what the publisher wants us to know or discuss. They’ve got some splainin’ to do.
I don’t think the idea was to present Rousseau as a good guy…. The quote is repugnant to the Word of God and the ancient principles that formed the foundation of America. He was just another step along the way of the French Revolution, which smoldered and mutated into Marxism.
God made the world, owns the world, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” Acts 17:26-28.
He meant that physically you don’t ever truly own anything. You are simply a guardian or steward of it while you are here on Earth. He believed in living in a state of nature without complex political societies- “amour de soi”-positive self-love without pride and vanity.
In our world today, if you think you own your home and property, try not paying your property taxes for a year or two and see how much you own.
Ahh, one of the first socialists! May he rot in hell.