Property

The American dream of property ownership undergirds many other aspects of the American dream, including control, privacy, and wealth. In a country where people may own their own land (rather than living at the pleasure of the sovereign or state), property-owning citizens are more secure. To own property means that the owner controls the use of the property, may benefit from the property, may sell the property, and may exclude others from the property. The last of these basic property rights is the one being exercised by the neighbor in "Mending Wall." Knowing that they have a place to call home frees landowners from the basic human worry of having a place to sleep, allowing them to focus on progress, or wealth, or whatever other pursuit they think may bring them happiness. Property also represents a legacy, one that future generations may inherit and use as the foundation...