Thank you Founding Fathers!

Calling the high court's June 23 ruling "misguided" and a "threat to all property owners," Mr. Riley said, "A property rights revolt is sweeping the nation, and Alabama is leading it." The backlash against the judicial ruling has not received much attention in the national press, although legislative leaders in more than two dozen states have proposed statutes and/or state constitutional amendments to restrict local governments' eminent-domain powers.

It is remarkable that our Supreme Court would vote the way it did in an important a case as Kelo versus New London. This is the now famous case where the local government declared eminent domain on 15 property owner holdouts for the purpose of starting a development plan that would afford the city of New London a new source of tax revenue.

But on second thought it’s not really so remarkable – is it…. The fact is that there is very little understanding of the term “individual rights” and why we have them, in America at least…

I agree with the Objectivist definition of Individual Rights: A right is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. The basic right of course is a man’s right to his own life.

But if man has a right to his own life then how is he to sustain that life? By permission? That is a slave’s condition of existence. Anybody with eyes can see of course that man sustains his life by owning the product of his effort which we call property. Therefore, without the right to keep that property there can be no life. Think about it. If you cannot be sure that your house is yours or that the food you just purchased is yours, or that the car you drive to work with is yours, then you cannot live. If at any moment the government can decide to seize your property then HOW CAN YOU LIVE?

Just because the majority ruled 5-4 in the Kelo v New London case in favor of the taking of private property does not make it right. Would you like it or agree with your local government to come into your home and declare that they need the ground where your home stands on to put up a business that would produce more taxes? No of course not – you’d say that’s ridiculous.

Ayn Rand, my favorite philosopher stated it quite succinctly:

“Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave”.

So I want to thank some very special people who foresaw the abuses of government: Our Founding Fathers – in particular John Adams and Thomas Jefferson for having the wisdom and creativity for designing our three branches of government in such a way that they were independent from each other and each would serve as a control for possible abuses by the other two.

John Adams, our second president seemed adamant when he wrote that “Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty…The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”