Supervisor’s vision of world dangerous

I am writing to inform the citizens of Albemarle about a conversation I had two years ago with my neighbor, David Slutzky. He was holding an open house as he was running for supervisor then and I went up to talk to him, with a special concern for property issues. It was not long after eminent domain had been used to seize private property in another jurisdiction and deliver it to a developer, in the name of higher tax revenue.

We disagreed strongly about this issue, with Mr. Slutzky remarking that governments must be able to use eminent domain in these kinds of circumstances, in order to generate tax revenue. Mr. Slutzky commented that not being able to do this put up significant barriers to economic prosperity. I countered that in New York City, where I grew up, there were numerous examples of small buildings tucked in between large commercial buildings because the owners had refused to sell, and that this had not seemed to hurt New York’s economy much.

And Mr. Slutzky responded with a statement so amazing that I remember it to this day. He said, “That should not have been allowed.” Those property owners who refused to sell to the big developer “should not have been allowed” to do so.

This is an astoundingly dangerous view of government and liberty. A free people “allow” governments to take some responsibility and authority. A tyrannical government “allows” people to own property — or disallows it as it sees fit.

David Slutzky is the most dangerous kind of politician. He is a man with thousands of ideas of what government should do, and absolutely no clue what liberty really is.

I urge the people of Albemarle County, with the strongest urging I can muster, to vote for Rodney Thomas and to send Mr. Slutzky back to private enterprise. And will the people of the county please forgive me for not writing this two years ago.