Reflections on property, unconnected to anything specific.
The concept includes anti-power, as well; power that can exerted over the self by individuals of greater power, by organizations of society, by uncontrolled events. Theft, violence, war are all linear extensions of the interplay among the powers of individuals.
Property underlies the accumulation of power in the United States, and is enshrined in our Constitution and Amendments in direct and indirect ways. Identifying the property relationships in situation is a key to understanding the power relationships. The creation, ownership, and transfer of property (real property, money, intellectual property, position, entitlement, share, revenue, potential revenue. etc.) are the mechanisms underlying the accumulation and transfer of economic and political power.
Our country began amid a debate over the right to hold humans as property, as slaves. The answer was "yes", and remained "yes" in law for many agonizing decades, and in practice even longer. The legal superiority of property over humanity is inscribed in tradition as well as law, even as far back as the Biblical obligations of the Chosen People to the Holy Land. Although well padded, that principle continues to evolve, with property even assuming some of the rights of people in the United States (Citizens United, 2011).