In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison and others listed the protection of property rights as the primary reason for instituting government. Daniel Webster said, “No other rights are safe where property is not safe.” And John Jay, the first Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court, said, “The supreme purpose of government is to protect private property rights.”

Of course the government might protect me and my property by keeping my next door neighbor from running a landfill in his back yard. But the founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw how our private property rights are being taken away. I am for the return of property rights over government rights.