Iran Says, "Screw You Guys! I'm Goin' Home!"

Iran has said recently that they will cancel their participation with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty if the U.S. imposes sanctions on them through the U.N. Security Counsil. Iran continued by stating that if they withdraw from the treaty, they will then be free to give everything they know about nuclear energy to whomever they wish. And you know what? They're right. Unlike many in the U.S. State Dept., Iran has actually read their copy of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty:

Article X

 

1. Each Party shall in exercising its national sovereignty have the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country.

You see, once Iran signed on, they agreed to certain rules and restrictions on whom they could share their nuclear technology with. But, once the NPT and the restrictions are gone, they're free to do as they wish. Unlike the US Income Tax, the NPT is (truly) enforced through voluntary compliance. Iran can walk away from it at any time (with proper reason such as economic sanctions). Need I mention this particular outcome would be bad for the rest of the world?

 

But, this isn't why I post today. A coworker and I got to talking about city ordinances that tell homeowners what they can and cannot do on their own property, after we saw a vehicle pull in that said "Code Enforcement" on the side of it. We talked about such things like: you can't have a vehicle that remains stationary for more than 72 hours, or you can't jack up your vehicle in your own driveway to change it's oil. You know... stupid rules like that. I remarked that the city may be able to enforce such laws on public right-of-ways, but to tell you that you can't do this and such on your own property seemed a tad bit oppressive. He assured me that he was correct.

 

This got me thinking about how government's perception of "private property" has gotten skewed over the years. More importantly, this also illustrates the public's misunderstanding of property rights, too. The state, referring to all levels of government, believes that they essentially own everything. Citizens are in possession of property, but the state believes it actually owns everything. Therefore, the state is well within bounds to pull up outside your house to tell you how to live your life. They can tell you that you can't have junk cars on your property or sell tomatoes from your garden or run a small business out of your spare bedroom. You don't actually own it--they're just letting you use it as long as you follow their rules.

 

What does this have to do with Iran? The U.S. has taken the same approach with Iran. If you listen to the rhetoric coming from the mouths of U.S. politicians (such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice), you're left with the impression that they feel they own Iran. They also don't like how Iran is conducting it's affairs with U.S. property, so it's going to force change upon them. Iran, on the other hand, looks at the U.S. and says, "You pompous asses! We've been here for well over a thousand years*. How dare you come to our borders and shout at us to stop doing what is well within our right as a nation to do."

 

You see, it's basically the same scenario, just with different actors.

 

Note: Iran used to be known as Persia before 1935.