Toronto City Councilors are seizing the Matador nightclub, a Toronto icon, from its 79 year old owner and replacing it with a parking lot.

Many object to the transaction because of the buildings historical significance, or whether spending $800,000 of taxpayer money for 20 parking spaces was a wise economical decision.

But there remains the broader issue of why government planners should be empowered to steal from people in the name of urban renewal. In a free society, you and I are expected to purchase property without the use of force. Why should government be judged by a different moral code than we use to judge ourselves?

As it stands now, arrogant public officials believe that cities are their own personal sandbox to play in. Where the government sees 'blight,' its victims see their hard work, their livelihoods and their dreams crushed. Many bureaucrats believe they have a right to improve the community, but there are no community rights, only individuals have rights. Communities only have desires.

Many of us simply blank out while bureaucrats stand astride society like a gang of thugs over hikers they have captured in the woods, robbing us of our private property, in repeated waves of thievery. If the rights of an individual are not respected, we are not a free nation.