(as published in Northern Neck News)
February 10, 2010
As a son of Richmond County, I take great interest in the ongoing debate over the County's adoption of a Comprehensive Plan. I read Ms. Markham's comments concerning "property rights" (NN News 2/3/10) and feel the need to respond. The great Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume recognized that the key to liberty is private property, which protects each citizen from not only abuse from other citizens, but from the tyranny and coercive powers of the government. Hume recognized that the preservation of property rights was at the heart of a peaceful, orderly and just society and without the solemn protection of property people are "exposed to the violence of others." Ms. Markham seems to suggest that "what the people decide" is how others may use their land. Such comments give me a vision of French peasants screaming to have another head roll off the guillotine. The "people" do not decide the fate of property held by another. We are a nation of laws over men, and there is no greater or more sacred law than the rights we inherited from our English forbearers, rights pre-existing the Magna Carta, that give every man the right to peacefully hold property, without the fear of its deprivation from others. Inherent in these rights, is the sanctity of contract (a property right).
There is no order, no liberty, no prosperity, no freedom of expression, no peace and no justice as long as the mere hint or remote possibility exists that the government or "the mob" will take or diminish property from a citizen.
I urge the County to tread lightly on imposing any dictates on property owners in Richmond County and to remember its history and those remarkable citizens who took up arms against a King who didn't respect this most cherished of all rights. These patriots knew that the chief function of government is to protect private property, not destroy it.
Robert Coleman Smith
Richmond, Va.
