One of the central questions of any political ideology is "Who should own and control the means the production?" (Means of production refers to factories, farmlands, machinery, office space, etc.) Generally there have been three approaches to this issue.
1.The first was aristocracy, in which a ruling elite owned the land and productive wealth, and peasants and serfs had to obey their orders in return for their livelihood.
2.The second is capitalism, which disbanded the ruling elite and allows a much broader range of private individuals to own the means of production. However, this ownership is limited to those who can afford to buy productive wealth; nearly all workers are excluded.
3.The third approach is socialism, which is defined as "the collective ownership and control of the means of production." That is, everyone owns and controls productive wealth, which is accomplished through the vote.
As you can see, there is a spectrum here, ranging from a few people owning productive wealth at one end, to everyone owning it at the other.
====http://www.huppi.com
I believe we are currently between 2 & 3 as we add more regulations, etc. to those that own & control production, due to flaws in Capitalism.
Yeah I think that about describes it.
Individuals have (and they ought to have, too) the right to private property.
Society has,(and ought to have, too) the right to regulate when something about that private property ownership TRULY threatens the domestic transquility of that society.
For example...I have the right to own a factory.
I do not have the right to pollute the local river to run it.
I have the right to hire the best people to work with me.
I do not have the right to refuse to hire the best people just because I do not like their race, color, creed or gender.
It's a balancing act trying to keep these competing rights (of the individual and the rights of society) from tearing society apart or tuning it into an authoritarian nightmare.
Naturally, when we have two such diametically opposing POVs, there's going to be a constant battle to decide where we draw the line between those to POVs.
Move too far in the direction of right for individuals and the strong individuals dominate the society to the detriment of society (read most other
individuals) overall.
Move too far in the direction of the rights of society to oversee the individuals and the government dominates each individual to excess.
Both extremes, it seems to me, are situations to be avoided, since both extremes lead to society (and the indivoduials within it, too) being less than it/(they) could otherwise be.