Homeowners, Charity and Share Our Selves
Even as I write, the issue of the immediate future of Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa is being decided by the City Council. But the issues raised by Jean Forbath will remain long after this decision.
In her article (Jan. 15) she raised the old liberal charge that “human rights need to be on a par with property rights in our value system.” Somehow she has come to believe that the existence of property rights is what denies SOS the ability to operate in Costa Mesa. She could not be further from the truth. First, it is a real mistake to make a distinction between human rights and property rights. All rights are human in that they protect (or restrict) certain kinds of human behavior. Property has no rights; only people have rights.
If there existed real freedom in Costa Mesa to use your land as you believed best, then it would be easy for SOS to acquire land and operate their valuable social service. But neither they nor anyone else has such rights.
Practically all uses of land are decided by a political process in which the government decides what use is permitted. Costa Mesa may decide that SOS cannot operate in the city. This kind of decision can happen because of the absence of “property” rights. What Jean Forbath needs is more property rights, not fewer.
DONALD R. BOOTH
Villa Park
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