John Locke, Bastard

By which I mean if the commentator I read last night has his facts right -- and since this is a blog I should get major props for conceding he might be wrong and not be criticized for failing to confirm that he's right -- the very great thinker John Locke said that the English settlers of North America were entitled to it because the aboriginal occupants weren't farmers.

That is -- and I am paraphrasing a paraphrase here -- property and the right to have it and to keep it is God given, said Mr. Social Contract. But property must be created by taking what Nature gives and adding value, enhancing, causing it to bring forth. Indians didn't realize the earth's full potential (farm); therefore, it was first come first served when it came to the sweet seedcake of this great big juicy continent.

If you were a farmer.

This was for Journalism Ethics class. But sometimes you wander over into ethics in general.