Who Really Owns the United States of America? -- Stefan Molyneux

Stefan Molyneux answers listener questions about property rights, homesteading and who owns the United States of America.





0:00 - In a previous show I heard you have a dialogue similar to this: You were asked what should happen if property was homesteaded immorally 300 or more years ago. Let's say a native had some land and then he was shot and the land was stolen. Then the land was sold and it has been traded 20 times since then You said something like: "All those people are dead, so there is nothing you can do about that - The people who have the contract now are the legal homesteaders and we should move on." - Is this accurate?

6:48 - What is the difference between a private resort and a state? If I own a private resort the size of Disney Land do I have the right to decide how that resort is controlled? Could I just have my own management team? Could I run it all myself? Can I let no-one control it? Or to entice new home buyers could I say that the resort would be run like a democracy where everyone would have a vote and 51% rules all? This resort would run now like our current government. In a free society would this be acceptable if I owned all the land? Then for people to buy the land they will know this upfront and enter into the contract voluntarily and they would have the knowledge that if anyone stays in this private land they are bound by the rules of the land or they can leave.

10:20 - What if I immorally homesteaded some piece of land around 350 years ago and called my land USA. So all the people who took the land immorally are dead and the people now have a legal homestead. If I called my resort USA Government and the land is run like a democracy surely that is the same as what we have now in a free society? So what right do we have to remove the land owned by the company called USA Government if they are the legal homesteaders and everyone else is just a lease holder?

13:24 - I heard you say that the difference between a state and private land is that a private piece of land would not be the size of a whole country. But at what size does something become immoral? 1sq km? 100sq km? 1,000,000 sq km? Can size be a principle? If in a free society a circumstance like USA came about on a piece of land the size of Disney Land would you have the same objection to it?