This Land Is Your Land (Or Is It OUR Land?)
Recently, much has been in the news about out-of-control local governments using the "power" of eminent domain to seize the private property of citizens for "public" use. This "public use" would include such things as commercial development by private developers of such items as parking lots, hotels, and high-end dwelling places in place of "blighted" areas. The definition of "blighted" will depend upon which politician you talk with.
Eminent domain was once upon a time used for development of such things as public schools, police stations, roads, reservoirs, and other items that were "necessary" for the citizenry, and equally usable by all. Fair market value, or what the buying government entity deemed to be fair market value, was offered. If the seller refused, the government would generally condemn the property under eminent domain, give the disenfranchised party some settlement, and begin construction. Only back then, many politicians were too afraid to try to pull a stunt such as re-selling the property to a private developer, or if they did, it was kept rather hush-hush.
I have always felt that eminent domain was rather unconstitutional in its practice. Our preamble guarantees us the right to our property, and is further reinforced by the 4th amendment, which protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures by our government.
But not so with eminent domain as is practiced today. And what is worse, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling in Keslo that allows for eminent domain to be used for "economic development". In other words, if your house and 10 acres of land is worth $250,000, and your property taxes are, say, $2,500 annually, and a developer says he can put 10 homes on your 10 acres worth $300,000 each, guess what? Assuming that we use 1% as our property tax rate, a politician can look at this proposal as "economic development", seize your property, and re-sale to the developer, using the $27,500 additional tax revenue as justification for the seizure.
So whose land is this? We are slowly but surely drifting toward a nanny state. Why are more people not outraged about such goings on? Because we have been de-sensitized to the erosion of our personal rights. From speech to arms to property to life, our rights are constantly being attacked by socialist bureaucrats and like-minded individuals who are too dense or too sophisticated to know that they will lose.
Eminent domain should be completely scrapped for a system in which the property owner holds the cards. If you need a road, find someone who will sell you his property for right-of-way. If not, we must realize that this land is truly not OUR land.
Eminent domain was once upon a time used for development of such things as public schools, police stations, roads, reservoirs, and other items that were "necessary" for the citizenry, and equally usable by all. Fair market value, or what the buying government entity deemed to be fair market value, was offered. If the seller refused, the government would generally condemn the property under eminent domain, give the disenfranchised party some settlement, and begin construction. Only back then, many politicians were too afraid to try to pull a stunt such as re-selling the property to a private developer, or if they did, it was kept rather hush-hush.
I have always felt that eminent domain was rather unconstitutional in its practice. Our preamble guarantees us the right to our property, and is further reinforced by the 4th amendment, which protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures by our government.
But not so with eminent domain as is practiced today. And what is worse, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling in Keslo that allows for eminent domain to be used for "economic development". In other words, if your house and 10 acres of land is worth $250,000, and your property taxes are, say, $2,500 annually, and a developer says he can put 10 homes on your 10 acres worth $300,000 each, guess what? Assuming that we use 1% as our property tax rate, a politician can look at this proposal as "economic development", seize your property, and re-sale to the developer, using the $27,500 additional tax revenue as justification for the seizure.
So whose land is this? We are slowly but surely drifting toward a nanny state. Why are more people not outraged about such goings on? Because we have been de-sensitized to the erosion of our personal rights. From speech to arms to property to life, our rights are constantly being attacked by socialist bureaucrats and like-minded individuals who are too dense or too sophisticated to know that they will lose.
Eminent domain should be completely scrapped for a system in which the property owner holds the cards. If you need a road, find someone who will sell you his property for right-of-way. If not, we must realize that this land is truly not OUR land.
posted by Badbeans | 4:47 PM
1 Comments:
They would have to kill me first. There is no way that I give up property like that. I really think that we need to start a revolution in our country. The founding fathers would have revolted a long time ago had they been subjected to the same sort of things.
Post a Comment
<< Home