Wallbuilders Live! With David Barton & Rick Green

Start with a simple question: what happens to freedom when property fades? We dive into that pressure point with a story that runs from Genesis to Philadelphia, tracing how stewardship, ownership, and consent form the backbone of a free society. Tim Barton walks through the biblical roots of private property—creation, cultivation, and commands that forbid stealing and coveting—then highlights the stark warning of 1 Samuel 8, where centralized power “takes” until liberty shrivels. That ancient caution feels modern when set against ideologies that dream of abolishing ownership and replacing personal responsibility with administrative control.We connect those roots to America’s founding mind. John Locke’s case for government as a trust to preserve property shaped the Revolution and the Constitution. Samuel Adams named life, liberty, and property as natural rights with the authority to defend them “in the best manner” possible. We unpack why Jefferson wrote “pursuit of happiness” instead of “property,” guided by