English poet, John Dryden once stated that "For who can be secure of private right, If sovereign sway may dissolv'd by might? Nor is the people's judgment always true: The most may err as grossly as the few." In just a few sentences Dryden encompasses all the doubts and fears of a person's private interests versus those of the overwhelming public. Societal welfare is two words that are not easily defined, not because of the difficulty of its content but because of the vastness to which it may apply. At times it may be nearly impossible to see the clear and best path for one's people and if the price is one person's rights, in my belief the stakes themselves may be too high.

I am here today to affirm this month's resolution which states "individual claims of privacy ought to be valued above competing claims...