Content area
Full Text
No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
United States Constitution Fifth Amendment
As Americans, we proudly extol the virtues of our free society. We enjoy certain liberties espoused in our Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by our Constitution. But Constitutional guarantees mean nothing without the determination of the people to take their rightful place as educated and vigilant citizens to protect those rights, which are the envy of the world. Those rights delineated by our Bill of Rights, affirm the rights bestowed upon us by our Creator, among them the right of private property ownership, the hallmark of a free society.
Thomas Jefferson understood this very well when he wrote to Samuel Kercheval in 1816. "The true foundation of republican government is the equal right...