US Constitution Party - Copyrights and Patents

Folks,

The Eighth Commandment states:

"You shall not steal." Exodus 20:15 (NAB)

The Tenth Commandment states:

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him." Exodus 20:17 (NAB)

That means very simply and directly that you and I don't get to take away and re-distribute what someone else has produced and now owns by legal and rightful means. That includes but is NOT limited to intellectual property protected by copyright or patent. Anything less than that is a violation of the Eighth and Tenth Commandments. The statement on Copyrights and Patents in the platform of the Constitution Party is entirely consistent with this:

Copyrights and Patents

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing" copyright and patent protection for authors and inventors.

We oppose the unconstitutional transfer of authority over copyright and patent policy from Congress to other agencies, domestic or foreign. We favor more vigorous efforts in both domestic and foreign markets to protect the interests of owners in their copyrights and patents.

Pope Pius XII's Encyclical, Rerum Novarum, expands on this concept of private ownership even more.

Paragaph 5 states in part:

"It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very own. If one man hires out to another his strength or skill, he does so for the purpose of receiving in return what is necessary for the satisfaction of his needs; he therefore expressly intends to acquire a right full and real, not only to the remuneration, but also to the disposal of such remuneration, just as he pleases...Socialists, therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and of bettering his condition in life."

Paragraph 6 states in part:

"For, every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own."

Paragraph 8 states in part:

"The fact that God has given the earth for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race can in no way be a bar to the owning of private property. For God has granted the earth to mankind in general, not in the sense that all without distinction can deal with it as they like, but rather that no part of it was assigned to any one in particular, and that the limits of private possession have been left to be fixed by man's own industry, and by the laws of individual races."

Paragraph 9 states in part:

"Here, again, we have further proof that private ownership is in accordance with the law of nature...cannot but be just that he should possess that portion as his very own, and have a right to hold it without any one being justified in violating that right."

Paragraph 10 states in part:

"But those who deny these rights do not perceive that they are defrauding man of what his own labor has produced."

Paragraph 11 states in part:

"With reason, then, the common opinion of mankind, little affected by the few dissentients who have contended for the opposite view, has found in the careful study of nature, and in the laws of nature, the foundations of the division of property, and the practice of all ages has consecrated the principle of private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity with human nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable manner to the peace and tranquillity of human existence."

Paragraph 22 states in part:

"'It is lawful,' says St. Thomas Aquinas, 'for a man to hold private property; and it is also necessary for the carrying on of human existence.'"

Paragraph 38 states in whole:

"Here, however, it is expedient to bring under special notice certain matters of moment. First of all, there is the duty of safeguarding private property by legal enactment and protection. Most of all it is essential, where the passion of greed is so strong, to keep the populace within the line of duty; for, if all may justly strive to better their condition, neither justice nor the common good allows any individual to seize upon that which belongs to another, or, under the futile and shallow pretext of equality, to lay violent hands on other people's possessions. Most true it is that by far the larger part of the workers prefer to better themselves by honest labor rather than by doing any wrong to others. But there are not a few who are imbued with evil principles and eager for revolutionary change, whose main purpose is to stir up disorder and incite their fellows to acts of violence. The authority of the law should intervene to put restraint upon such firebrands, to save the working classes from being led astray by their maneuvers, and to protect lawful owners from spoliation."

Paragraph 46 states in part:

"We have seen that this great labor question cannot be solved save by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners."

Paragraph 47 states in whole:

"Many excellent results will follow from this; and, first of all, property will certainly become more equitably divided. For, the result of civil change and revolution has been to divide cities into two classes separated by a wide chasm. On the one side there is the party which holds power because it holds wealth; which has in its grasp the whole of labor and trade; which manipulates for its own benefit and its own purposes all the sources of supply, and which is not without influence even in the administration of the commonwealth. On the other side there is the needy and powerless multitude, sick and sore in spirit and ever ready for disturbance. If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be brought nearer to one another. A further consequence will result in the great abundance of the fruits of the earth. Men always work harder and more readily when they work on that which belongs to them; nay, they learn to love the very soil that yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of good things for themselves and those that are dear to them. That such a spirit of willing labor would add to the produce of the earth and to the wealth of the community is self evident. And a third advantage would spring from this: men would cling to the country in which they were born, for no one would exchange his country for a foreign land if his own afforded him the means of living a decent and happy life. These three important benefits, however, can be reckoned on only provided that a man's means be not drained and exhausted by excessive taxation. The right to possess private property is derived from nature, not from man; and the State has the right to control its use in the interests of the public good alone, but by no means to absorb it altogether. The State would therefore be unjust and cruel if under the name of taxation it were to deprive the private owner of more than is fair."

There are many more excellent discussions of the right to own private property (of which copyrighted and patented materials are an example) in Rerum Novarum, but these suffice to demonstrate the point being made.