Here is a nursery rhyme from the 1600's. They hang the man and flog the woman who steals the goose from off the common. But let the greater criminal loose who steals the common from the goose. They say we must atone when we take things we do not own. But leave the Lords and Ladies fine when they take things that are yours and mine. This was during the time of Bloody Bess' "Enclosure Laws", that allowed the commons to be split up and claimed by the rich..
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