The founding fathers certainly felt this way when they wrote "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Those also sought to secure property rights. One of the original drafts of the Declaration stated in their list of grievances that the King incited the citizens with the allurements of forfeiture & confiscation of our property. The founding fathers in the Bill of Rights added the protection of the 5th Amendment in the states, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation" and the 14th Amendment further defines the protection with "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
Let's face it our property rights are what separate us from the 3rd world countries. Property rights are the foundation of our economy. Without solid property rights business cannot operate. In his book, The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx stated, "The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."
The founding fathers were heavily influenced by the writings of Adam Smith. In his book, The Wealth of Nations he wrote, "Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all."
In Mineral County the Rich are on the offensive against not only the poor but the Middle Class. The evidence is piling up if you choose to look.
In the October 19th, 2007 issue of the News Tribune and article entitled "Zoning could be part of the Mineral Co. Plan" it states, "
On October 30th the Clean Up Mineral County Committee disbanded after handing a proposal for an ordinance to cover buildings that were abandon or had structural defects to the Planning Commission.
There are two interesting facts about this meeting. The first is; prior to this meeting the Clean Up Mineral County Committee had met the 4th Thursday of every month, but the final meeting was moved to the 5th Tuesday causing a schedule conflict for many property owner rights advocates. The second is; most of the protections for the Middle Class, Low Income, and Disabled home owners were removed from the proposed ordinance at this final meeting.
Had the meeting been held on its proper night, most likely the protections for the Middle Class, Low Income, and Disabled would not have been removed. The people that didn't want anybody but the rich to have their rights protected, simply would not have had the votes. No explanation for why the meeting date was moved was ever given, but the move worked to disadvantage of most Mineral County's citizens.
It is easy to see if you look at what is happening in the county that the wealthiest of the county are trying to impose their will on the rest of the population of the county. Adam Smith warned about his over 200 years ago. We are seeing ideas being put forth that will have an adverse effect on the middle class, low income, and disabled while having little to no effect on the richest citizens of the county.
Like the Declaration of Independence says;
There were protections proposed to protect the disabled and families that qualified for federal poverty programs. They were not necessarily there to exempt them from the law, but to give them more time to comply. These were rejected by the majority and called reverse discrimination against the wealthy.
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