Property Rights and Liberty Part II

If you read Locke, Hobbes, Hume, Mill, and other enlightment scholars, you see the common approach of beginning in a "state of Nature" where there is no scarcity. Then, as society evolves, there are fights over scarce resources or property. The very first and most important element of a functional society is the recognition and acceptance of private property rights. Nothing else is required. There is no need for a government or state if all citizens sign a social contract agreeing to recognize private property rights and if all citizens post a bond to hire a sheriff or someone to arbitrate conflicts. There is no need for a state provided defense or solution to so-called public goods or externalities, or to provide a safety net.
Robert Higgs noted that in the 20th century, especially during the past seventy years, Americans have placed their faith in government — increasingly the federal government. Since Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the presidency in 1933, voluntary relief has taken a back seat to government assistance. Eventually, hardly any source of distress remained unattended by a government program. Old age, unemployment, illness, poverty, physical disability, loss of spousal support, childrearing need, workplace injury, consumer misfortune, foolish investment, borrowing blunder, traffic accident, environmental hazard, and loss from flood, fire, or hurricane all became subject to government succor. (See Mises.org)
In other words, once you admit a role beyond private property rights there is a slippery slope -- an inability to stop Leviathin. You might read Gene Healey's "The Cult of the Presdency" to see just how this growth has occurred. So, I strongly disagree with Megan.