Madison on private property

In 1787, James Madison, in the Federalist No. 10 paper, addressed a general issue that will be voted on at the April 5 election: what happens when the majority disregards rights of property and makes a law specifically to harm some minority group?

He wrote that "measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority. ... Justice ought to hold the balance between them. Yet the parties are, and must be, themselves the judges; and the most numerous party, or, in other words, the most powerful faction must be expected to prevail."

Smoking ban advocates calculate that since a majority no longer smoke, they can convince voters to pass an ordinance stripping private property owners of their right to decide which legal activities can occur on their property.

This is not about secondhand smoke or health. This is an attempt to deprive property owners of their right to choose how to run their business. Simply because a majority votes for a law does not make it a just law.

Madison again: "When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens."

If citizens want businesses to disallow smoking, they are free to buy a business and make it nonsmoking. Vote no on the smoking ban.

JULIE MOORE, Cape Girardeau