“I've long believed that one of the mainsprings of our own liberty has been the widespread ownership of property among our people and the expectation that anyone's child, even from the humblest of families, could grow up to own a business or a corporation.  Thomas Jefferson dreamed of a land of small farmers, of shop owners, and merchants.  Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Homestead Act that ensured that the great western prairies of America would be the realm of independent, property-owning citizens — a mightier guarantee of freedom is difficult to imagine.”

— Ronald Reagan