Swenson won’t violate ‘property’
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
I support John Swenson in his bid for the office of Lake County Commissioner. John will be a strong voice and vote for individual property rights while in the commissioners’ office.
The principle of property is essential to freedom. In his famous essay on “Property” in 1792, James Madison expressed the foundational view that “government is instituted to protect property of every sort … This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own.”
Significantly, Madison stated that “man has a property very dear to him in the safety and liberty of his person.” No property can be secure when the most foundational property — our “person,” our life, including life in the womb — is not secure.
The Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution and Article 2, Section 29 of the Montana Constitution institute the protection of property that Madison conveyed by prohibiting government from “taking” or “damaging” private property “for public use without just compensation.” (These are the two Constitutions, by the way, that all elected officials in Montana are required by oath or affirmation to uphold.)
When elected officials assume authority to “redistribute” or “regulate” private property, whether in the form of “real” (land) or “personal” (money) property in a fashion that “takes” it by “damaging” or diminishing its value (such as the recently passed “density map” in Lake County), “compensation” must be paid. More often than not, that does not happen. The preferred and proper option, of course, would be that our elected officials keep government within its Constitutional boundaries and duties and not violate property in the first place.
John Swenson will not support policies that violate property. He will uphold his oath of office and reject political expediency and pragmatism. He knows that is necessary to restore our property and freedom. That is why I support him.
Please vote for John Swenson for Lake County Commissioner.
Rick Jore
Ronan
