My late brother-in-law, a self-made African-American, grew up poor. I miss him dearly for the many talks we had about the nature of society and economics. One statement he made that remains locked in my memory is that if I thought I owned my house, I needed only to quit paying my property taxes to find out otherwise. That the state of New York intends to abscond with Donald Trump's properties in an obviously politically motivated legal maneuver demonstrates that anyone's property is, to use the metaphor of Puritan revivalist Jonathan Edwards, like a spider hanging by a thread over a fire.
Marx on Property
In 1843 Karl Marx wrote an essay that seems applicable to the current New York case and judgment against Donald Trump. Marx wrote: “is private property not abolished ideally speaking when the non-owner has become the lawgiver for the owner?” * Was Karl Marx a 19th-century reincarnation of Nostradamus predicting 21st century, New York?
Are You Next?
Are the case and judgment against Donald Trump limited to Trump? Does the case not foreshadow a potential case against you even if you are not a New York resident? With so many Left-leaning politicians and voters peopling America, your ownership isn”t assured.
We should all keep in mind, the post-Holocaust poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, who wrote about the silence of those who recognized what was going on around them, but who said or did nothing:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--
And there was no one left to speak for me.
Will we we rewrite those lines a decade from now to include the words neighbor, property and Trump?
*Mclellan, David.(2000, Second Edition) Karl Marx: Selected Writings, page 52.
Marx on Property
In 1843 Karl Marx wrote an essay that seems applicable to the current New York case and judgment against Donald Trump. Marx wrote: “is private property not abolished ideally speaking when the non-owner has become the lawgiver for the owner?” * Was Karl Marx a 19th-century reincarnation of Nostradamus predicting 21st century, New York?
Are You Next?
Are the case and judgment against Donald Trump limited to Trump? Does the case not foreshadow a potential case against you even if you are not a New York resident? With so many Left-leaning politicians and voters peopling America, your ownership isn”t assured.
We should all keep in mind, the post-Holocaust poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, who wrote about the silence of those who recognized what was going on around them, but who said or did nothing:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--
And there was no one left to speak for me.
Will we we rewrite those lines a decade from now to include the words neighbor, property and Trump?
*Mclellan, David.(2000, Second Edition) Karl Marx: Selected Writings, page 52.
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