Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The Supreme Court decision in Kelo vs. the City of New London has opened the door for an assault on property rights. Likewise, the promotion of sustainable development under the guise of environmentalism is detrimental to those rights. It was John Adams who lauded the importance of private property rights to a free and open society.

"The moment that the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence," Adams wrote. "Property must be sacred or liberty cannot exist."

The reassertion of private property rights will be vigorously resisted by every local and federal bureaucrat as well as any judge who relishes the power to use your property to enrich the state or somebody else. The environmentalists will likewise resist the reassertion of property rights, though for the reason that they firmly believe that they know what is best for you.

However, as Mr. Adams so astutely observed, property must be sacred or liberty cannot exist.

Andrew Maggard

Port Haywood, Va.