Cowboys And Indians

    The despicable effects of Albertan's lack of Private Property Rights affects none more than the cowboys and Indians or to put it another way, the farmers and natives. The natives were stripped first or more precisely, they were never recognized as being "individuals" so even if we did have Property Rights, they wouldn't extend to natives anyway. Farmers, particularly grain farmers, are now being jailed because they have no constitutional means by which to defend themselves.

   Back in the day when the God-Fathers of Confederation were carving-up the territorial spoils, they had occasion to make the odd treaty with some of the native groups which they had encountered. In spite of the fact that Great Britain at the time was the most liberal (in the sense of libertarian), and therefore, prosperous nation in the world, they chose not to extend to Canada's natives the title of "free men" but instead chose to deal with them as a group. Natives were never afforded the title "individual".

    So when settlements were made, be it land, money or both, the settlement went to "the band" and a self-serving band council or just an individual chief would administer the spoils. The individual Indians weren't party to the benefit of owning the land or the resources thereon. They merely had a place to call home so long as they didn't piss off the chief or band council members.

    We see the same thing continuing today where the provincial and the federal governments continue to treat some Indians, the chiefs and councils, like fellow Mafiosi, dispensing pay-offs in the form of huge tracts of land and huge sums of cash. The individual Indians on the periphery of these deals however, get little or no benefit.

   Imagine instead, if the individual Indians were to be compensated equally. Two hundred acres of timberland and a hundred thousand dollars each would go a long way in changing the lot of the average Albertan native. Sure some of them would sell the land and squander the dough just as the case would be if the same deal were offered to the non-native population. Some however, would buy the land of their neighbors, invest their money and prosper. This is what free individuals do in a nation which offers them economic and political freedom. This is the liberty afforded the European settlers of early Canada. The natives weren't allowed the same opportunity to freely exercise their ingenuity because the European settlers, well, frankly, were racist bastards who thought the natives were godless sub-humans. I can't imagine that that's the same attitude that prevails today although there seems to have been no substantive change in the federal mafia's modus operandi over the past 200 years insofar as native relations and land claims negotiations are concerned.

   Our grain farmers also are dealt with by the federal mafia not as individuals but as a group. They have no right to that which they produce. The mafia forces them to sell their products through a mafia marketing board and dictates the price. Canada has a "mixed economy". Partly free market, partly planned by the federal mafia. It seems the plan is to screw the western grain farmers out of their private property. Those who have protested have been arrested and jailed.

   The Canadian system has no tolerance for natives or farmers who think that they should be afforded the same rights as every other citizen. Natives who speak out are ostracized and suddenly find housing and employment on the reserve difficult to come by. Farmers who protest are offered three squares and a cot.