Don’t You Dare

by Richard A. Cheatham, Press Media Group, LLC

The theory is that you’re protected by “your” government, right? To make sure government does that within your state, your interests are represented by elected legislators who serve in legislatures, right? In Virginia, the General Assembly has (supposedly) been representing the interests of its citizens since 1619. Really?

Many know about the recent disastrous Supreme Court decision saying it was fine for government to take private homes, businesses, churches and other private property in order to put it in the hands of other private owners and wealthy developers. Bold, ethical leaders such as John Allison of BB&T bank have taken the stand that they’ll not make loans to developers who use eminent domain to take private property.

The tsunami of public indignation over the Court’s decision caused citizens across the nation to act swiftly within their states to stop such abuse. According to the Castle Coalition, part of the Institute for Justice, citizens in Indiana, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Utah rushed to get their state laws fixed. Others will soon join these states.

One state where legislators just couldn’t bring themselves to oppose their wealthy benefactors, where state law offers no real protection for private property owners against powerful thieves, is Virginia. During its last session, the Virginia legislature was offered new and powerful protections for property owners (people who thought their homes were their castles) and not enough legislators were willing to offend their real masters, big property developers eager to use theft as a business practice.

Will Virginia eventually join other states in defending their citizens? Who knows! That depends far more upon citizens than upon self-serving legislators who are in the pockets of the wealthy developers. Don’t forget, developers often fund the elections and re-elections of those legislators. You do know that legislators often sell their intellectual independence, their personal values and their votes (all the while saying they would never do such a thing), don’t you?

There was a time when Virginia led the way in demands for protection of natural rights, liberty and justice. After all, Virginia is the home of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Richard Henry Lee and many others. That day has long since passed. That energy, commitment, honor, and nobility have passed to people in other states. Today’s Virginians are too fat and happy, jaded and obsessed with illusions and money, to have any time to think about any of this, much less to actually do something like contacting a legislator.

In the very place where radicals for liberty and independence challenged a King, who later challenged the dictates of an elected King named “Abe,” there’s now no serious challenge to wealthy politically-connected developers who take what they want from the peasants. If you haven’t contacted your legislator about this, don’t you dare blame anyone else.

©2006 by Richard A. Cheatham. All rights reserved. Mr. Cheatham is a professional speaker/writer and is syndicated through Press Media Group, LLC. Contact him through, Living History Assoc., Ltd., at www.LHALtd.com or DrawBackVeil@aol.com.