According to the Virginia Declaration of Rights (adopted by the Virginia Assembly, June 2, 1776) one definition of happiness is “All men…have certain inherent rights…namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
This citation is taken from a document which preceded the Declaration of Independence and with which the concept of “the pursuit of happiness” becomes synonymous with the right to acquire property. My ancestor, Colonel Meriwether Smith of Virginia, was one of the persons who developed this document and because of that, I have always been aware of the privilege of being one of his descendents, as well as a follower of his beliefs.
According to this declaration, acquiring and owning property and accepting responsibility for said property is an inherent right given to all Americans.
The citizens of Burley are no exception – most of them take this responsibility very seriously. And the word, responsibility, is the operant concept here, and because of that, we maintain our property. We work hard to pay the house payments – or the rent – and we pay our property taxes. As much as we hate to admit it, paying these taxes is a privilege endowed upon us by the right to own property. We can whine all we want to about these taxes, but after considering the alternative – servitude or slavery – the responsibility of sending that money to the Cassia County tax collector isn’t so bad after all.
We are also given the responsibility of voting for the representatives who will determine the amount we will pay in taxes to our county. Avoiding that responsibility, endowed upon us by our citizenship, is an automatic relinquishing of our rights. We also relinquish our choices along with the abandoning of our responsibilities. Voting is a statement of personal advocacy – the privilege given to us as American citizens who, in turn own property in accordance with the rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution.
If given the choice, I would rather be in a position to pay for the maintenance of my property and to pay the taxes levied upon it than to lose it as some have through foreclosure. If you don’t believe this is a choice, talk with the people who have lost their homes because of the bad economy – no jobs, no money, no property – no choices.
And there are others who have relinquished even more valuable assets – their very lives, given in the pursuit of the protection of our property – our police, firemen, and our military who have volunteered to make these sacrifices. They will tell you that this is their choice – their privilege as Americans – citizens of Burley and of Cassia County. They don’t question the responsibilities that come with this privilege.
Because of this, I become very angry when I drive down 16th Street and see the numbers, the “tags” sprayed across the newly painted fences or garage doors of citizens who accept the responsibility of maintaining their property. The word, “property” is derived from the Latin, meaning “self,” an extension of myself, as is the proper noun which is my name. Therefore, the defacing of this property is a personal attack upon me, upon all of us, an abandonment of the privilege of being an American citizen, and abandonment of the “pursuit of happiness” as defined by our Bill of Rights.
Sarah M. Blasius
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You write so well, good job!