Dear editor:

I’m sorry to hear that letter writer Bob Bader finds developer Benny Marotta’s life “frivolous,” (” ‘Economic progress’ and the future of Niagara-on-the-Lake,” July 27).

Because, and let us be absolutely clear, the Conservation Review Board and the Ontario Land Tribunal are denying him his right to exercise his life as he sees fit.

A one-year delay in building may be “democracy in action” to some, but in reality it is mob rule denying him his most precious resource — his time.

Mr. Bader is probably unfamiliar with my letters so let me reiterate, “not only should these committees ‘rubber-stamp proposals’ they should disband the committees and throw out the rubber stamps.”

In today’s culture it’s not surprising that Mr. Bader is mistaken and I feel I must inform him there are only individual rights, not collective rights.

Collective rights is a contradiction in terms.

Joining a group gives you no more rights than feeding a neighbour will fill your belly. What we’ve attempted to civilize by referring to as “collective rights” or “the common good” are in fact simply “mob rule.”

I do agree that we need more government support to protect individual rights but if we want to end mob rule we need to vastly curtail the government’s responsibilities.

Finally, as a “poor” capitalist, I will not dictate how people should spend their time, but can we really call the urban design and heritage committees volunteer work?

We call it volunteer work when someone works in a soup kitchen not when they are protecting the wealthy from having their housing prices fall or keeping the views from their homes unobstructed.

Maybe their time would be better spent living their lives?

Alexander Evans
NOTL