One candidate speaks of spreading the wealth. The other derides the notion as socialism. But I suspect that neither of them have read, or thought deeply, or discussed in any context what sorts of wealth OUGHT to be spread around, and what sorts OUGHT NOT to be spread?

Not all wealth is the same. We can divide it first into that which is created by individual or corporate human effort and that which is provided by nature or by the workings of the community as a whole. The former can rightly be privatized. The latter must not be.

Today we don’t differentiate properly between the two types. We permit the privatization of value created by the public, and then tax that which individuals create, socializing it.

Let’s socialize that which rightly belongs to all of us, and stop tolerating its privatization. Let’s privatize that which rightly belongs to the individual and the investor, and stop tolerating its socialization. Or at least stop tolerating its socialization until we have fully socialized that which ought to be socialized.

I suspect that we will find that our need for spending on safety nets and poverty programs and the like will fall precipitously when we start socializing the value of urban land, broadcast spectrum, landing rights, water rights, natural resources and the other things which the classical economists categorized as “land.” No individual, no family, no tribe, no religion, no corporation, no pension fund, no university endowment, no trust has a claim superior to that of the community as a whole on any such form of wealth.

How do we make our structure consistent with that truth? Don’t alter title. Simply restructure our tax and royalty system. Jed Clampett, sorry! Exxon-Mobil, sorry! Goldman Trust, sorry! Helmsley Trust, sorry! That’s ours, and we are going to start collecting its value for public purposes starting in X years.

Unjust? No more than ending slavery was unjust to the slaveholders. Sorry, guys. Certain things are inherently private. Some things are inherently public, and should be treated accordingly … socialized. The word may sound scary, just as the word “liberal” is difficult for some people to hear But think deeply about what ought to be private, and what ought to be public, and how we achieve justice and widely shared prosperity, and perhaps the word “socialize” won’t bother you so much.