Thursday, June 23, 2005
Shame, Shame, SCOTUS
Kudlow's Money Politic$: "In a 5 to 4 decision the Supreme Court issued a terrible ruling that allows local governments to seize people's homes and businesses against their will. A terrible decision that undermines economic freedom. "
I believe that this issue is much bigger than what Kudlow said on the matter. When we talk about patriotism, we use words and phrases like baseball, apple pie, freedom, picket fences, ownership, entrepreneurship, limited government, etc. We have the freedom to purchase and then own land that we put picket fences around. We start our own businesses to pay for that house and that fence. We bake in that house and toss the ball in the yard that we own. Anything that is ruled to limit the value of ownership or in any way denies that to people is at some (maybe small) level anti-American. Eminent Domain laws have not been my favorite before, but to strengthen them any is to devalue the American desire to own property. While the other argument is that it is only used in a small number of cases does not seem to help the people in Connecticut who were the subjects of this case. If the city wanted to clean up this area, they could have provided grants or low-interest loans to the families who live this is slightly run-down area. They could have also offered more than the property was worth on the open market, instead of less than half. To displace people from their homes just because you have the power does not sound very American to me.
I believe that this issue is much bigger than what Kudlow said on the matter. When we talk about patriotism, we use words and phrases like baseball, apple pie, freedom, picket fences, ownership, entrepreneurship, limited government, etc. We have the freedom to purchase and then own land that we put picket fences around. We start our own businesses to pay for that house and that fence. We bake in that house and toss the ball in the yard that we own. Anything that is ruled to limit the value of ownership or in any way denies that to people is at some (maybe small) level anti-American. Eminent Domain laws have not been my favorite before, but to strengthen them any is to devalue the American desire to own property. While the other argument is that it is only used in a small number of cases does not seem to help the people in Connecticut who were the subjects of this case. If the city wanted to clean up this area, they could have provided grants or low-interest loans to the families who live this is slightly run-down area. They could have also offered more than the property was worth on the open market, instead of less than half. To displace people from their homes just because you have the power does not sound very American to me.
