The actual LtE title: Patrick H. Wood: Affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege
Sometimes I hang onto things far too long. Like I’ve said in the past, when GraniteGrok first opened up, there were FAR fewer “things” to write about as the pace of such things were:
- Much slower than they are now
- More people, especially with social media and bloggers, are reporting on things. Couple of orders magnitude more
More folks like me end up with “FOMO” – Fear Of Missing Out. And for me, it’s a constant reading of posts/articles on the idea of “THIS is interesting but should the NEXT one have precedence over it?” – and I don end up writing about what caught my attention. So right now, I have about 400 tabs open in my browser of stuff “I want to write about” – not writer’s block but “priority failure”.
But this one I kept and it’s time to unload it (or is it “unload ON it?”). Now, Wood and I have known of each other since the early 2000s. We’re not friends nor acquaintances – we just know each other (barely?). And he’s a lawyer so I hold him to a higher standard in what his “I’m running for State Rep” letter than what I would someone “just off the street”. So, a bit of a fisking as while the House bit caught my attention, there are a couple more:
I am running for state representative from Laconia. This decision was not easily made as I am really enjoying retirement.
Actually, if one is retired and not doing anything else in particular, it would be an easy choice. It IS great to be able to decide, within some boundaries, what one is going to do that day unencumbered by other responsibilities – job, kids, other hobbies. But serving as a rep IS a HUGE time suck, so there’s that.
However, after the mass killing in Uvalde, Texas, I could no longer be only an observer. I believe safe gun ownership is a civic responsibility, not an infringement on rights.
And right off the bat, this lawyer (who should know FAR better) gets it absolutely wrong. The Right to keep and bear arms (noting that the Second Amendment NEVER talks about what KINDS of guns which the Left is always harping over) is a Constitutional Right that SHOULD be beyond Legislative attempts to restrict it. Heller and now Bruen have made it clear that the Left (and Wood is a hard Democrat) have been wrong about this for years. No longer a “secondary” Right, the courts are now recognizing it as a first rank Right along with all the others.
Sure, keeping your arms safe is a responsibility but one that is personal. As we are raising the Grandson, I take the time to make them secure – he’s too curious and too willing to “experiment” on his own. But that is on ME – it is NOT a “Civic” responsibility that I “owe” to anyone else outside of my home.
And any legislation to the contrary (as many Democrat-run cities and States are finding out) means getting sued.
As a member of the Laconia Housing Authority, I am acutely aware of the need for more places to live for the people who live and work here. Affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege.
Good for you for getting involved. However, as a lawyer, you KNOW what a Right is based on the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. A Right is an inviolate part of someone simply for being human. I have the Right to Free Speech – Government can’t stop me and it doesn’t mean YOU have to listen to me, but I can speak, write, create a video or a poster and express my thoughts. It costs you NOTHING.
I have the right to my own religious beliefs and Government is restrained from forcing me to believe what it “allows” (a national church, for instance, although the Left, via Government, is trying hard to institute “the National Church of Secular Humanism, IMHO). My beliefs do not mean that you must also accept my beliefs. My free expression of my beliefs cost you NOTHING.
So, going back to the definition of an inalienable Right (as opposed to a “legal right”) as recognized by our Founders:
Inalienable rights, or “natural rights,” are those rights that humans can innately enjoy. These are rights that cannot be taken away through laws created by man. Inalienable rights are different from legal rights, which are rights provided to an individual by the legal system, such as the right to an attorney and the right to remain silent.
They are a part of you, as I said, just for being human. And these Rights do not affect others with respect to exercising them.
So, how does “Housing” fit that as a Right? Are we born having a Right as an innate part of being human? No. Is it a Constitutional Right? No – there is no mention of it.
Someone has to create that Housing. Someone has to expend time, talent, and expense to “give you” a “Right to Housing”? I don’t think so and Wood should know better. Remember, a Right places no obligation upon anyone else to provide ANYTHING for you to exercise an inalienable Right. Again, the Right to Assembly is also counterbalanced with the Right to NOT assemble with others with whom one does not wish to associate with. You cannot force me to attend either a KKK meeting or an Antifa/BLM meeting or those that cavort over abortions.
Making Housing a Right means that someone else must be involved – and that’s not part of a Right. I cannot proclaim that Grokster Steve and Ann Marie (to pick on two Groksters) MUST build me a house.
Neither can Patrick Wood. And the adjective “affordable” makes it even worse. And I’ll go to that next step – I don’t believe that Government should be taking my private property (via taxes) simply to give it to someone else.
Now, if Counselor Wood wants to make “Affordable Housing” a reality, he should stop being lazy. Get off that quasi-Government agency called the Laconia House Authority and either join up with Habitat for Humanity (certainly Wood is of the age to remember Jimmy Carter) and work in the charity space to raise the private funds to create the housing he believes everyone should have. Or start his own charity (note that I’m not calling it a non-government organization – they are ALWAYS looking for Government provided money).
But alas, I doubt that’s his mindset – for the Left, ONLY Government can do good works. Even if it shouldn’t be doing it.
Not only that, how often do you hear the Left saying that “THIS is a Right and THAT is a Right and that thing over there is a Right” and you go “I don’t remember that in our Constitution(s)”? It’s deliberate – the Left has shown, over time, that ANY thing should be a right AND that Government will provide it to you.
Which isn’t, then, a Right at all.
Like Thomas Jefferson, I believe a robust public education system is essential for the preservation of our democracy. Having served on the Laconia School Board I learned that teaching is not only one of the most important jobs, but it is also one of the hardest. The schools need our support, not our political interference.
And a quick rebuttal: public education MONEY should follow the child, under the guidance of their parents, in providing publicly funded education. A building, or a set of buildings, in a given zip code, should not be entitled to that public education funding.
Let them earn and compete for that money. But that’s not how the Left works either (especially where teachers’ unions give quite a lot of that “money transfer” back to Democrat elected officials.
I would greatly appreciate your support and your vote in November.
Patrick H. Wood
Laconia
And no, he didn’t make it.
Thankfully.
Now, if someone tells him about this post, tell him he’s welcome to write a rebuttal.
