I've been mulling this post for a few hours now and I still don't quite know what to say. I just attended my first Planning Commission meeting (as a Commissioner) for the township in which I live (Darien, WI) and was a bit overwhelmed by one thing: people making constant and contradictory statements. Because the contents of the meeting are public, I have no issue with airing specific details about what I experienced (and my opinions thereof), but before I do, I want to gather my thoughts a bit.
One thing struck me more than anything: we have all but forgotten about individual property rights. By that, I mean, the general idea that when you own something, you may do with it as you please. As we all know, this is never cut and dry. While I own my car and it is more than capable of traveling at speeds of well over 100 mph, I cannot legally do so. So, on one hand, I may take a hammer to my car and destroy it if I wish, but I may not always use or treat it in the manner that I see fit. The problem that I have with the mentality on display tonight is that of the creep effect. Once it is allowable to dictate what one is able to do with his or her thing in one particular instance, It must be acceptable to decide for them what they may or may not do in another setting. This mentality has the inevitability of creep... It creeps into everything.
