“Why Banning Hate Speech Is Evil”
December 11, 2025
John Leo Keenan wrote:
“As the great Murray Rothbard has taught us, all rights are property rights.”
I think Ludwig von Mises was the first to teach this. I asked Google if Jean-Baptiste Say, Adam Smith and Milton Friedman said that all rights are property rights. It said no each time (“No, Milton Friedman did not say that all rights are property rights”). It replied that Ludwig von Mises did:
“Yes, Ludwig von Mises argued that all human rights are property rights, a concept he developed to show that things like freedom of speech are not separate from the right to own and control property. A concise quote from him to this effect is: “In short, there are no human rights that are separable from property rights”.
Mises’ argument is that what is often called a “human right,” such as the right to free speech, is fundamentally a property right. For example, the right to speak freely is only possible because one has the property right to use their own property (like their voice) or to contract with others for the use of their property (like a printing press or a lecture hall).
- In his view, there is no such thing as a “free speech right” that is separate from the property rights that make it possible.
- Without property rights, he contended, one cannot exercise what are called human rights.
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Mises further argues that the person who cries “fire” in a crowded theater is a criminal for violating the property rights of others, not for violating a “free speech” right that is separate from property rights.”
The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. [send him mail], former editorial assistant to Ludwig von Mises and congressional chief of staff to Ron Paul, is founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, executor for the estate of Murray N. Rothbard, and editor of LewRockwell.com. He is the author of Against the State and Against the Left. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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