Submitted by David McCullough, Dec 5, 2006 16:52

Dr. Thompson, CEO of the Institute for the Study of Capitalism, writes in the new journal The Objective Standard: " Americans must remember what conservatives have forgotten (or never fully understood): that the United States was founded on the idea that individuals have unalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. " And: "It is the ideal that animates the Declaration of Independence; it is the reason why man's inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness matter."

Dr. Thompson's career is based on books he has written about this period. How can he fail to know that there is no mention of property in the Declaration of Independence? Let us hope that this is simply a psychological abberation in one who, so committed to the idea the Founding Fathers being Founding Owners, that the idea of property just slips unnoticed--repeatedly--into his litany of America virtures. A less generous view would be that Dr. Professor Thompson hopes by repetition to instill a favored (though false) belief in his students and in the public.

David McCullough

Business Librarian

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