Life, Liberty, and Property

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>The Rights of Man to Property, being a proposition to make it equal among the adults of the present Generation; and to provide for its equal transmission to every individual of each succeeding generation, on arriving at the age of maturity. I hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and property.

>from Mr. Jefferson's Declaration of American Independence.

>The homestead was an area of public land in the West (usually 160 acres or 0.65 km2) granted to any US citizen willing to settle on and farm the land for at least five years.

>The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading; by that time, federal government policy had shifted to retaining control of western public lands. The only exception to this new policy was in Alaska, for which the law allowed homesteading until 1986.

Are we really free if we aren't guaranteed property? It used to be that if a man could maintain his land for 5 years it was legally his. The Republican ideal is a self made man, but we no longer have the choice. You can't even homestead in Alaska these days without buying a parcel for $20,000 in auction. What the fuck happened to the Land of the Free?