Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Missing the point
About eminemnt domain:
Dana Berliner, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which represents Kelo and several of her neighbors, sees it as a dispute that pits the affluent against those who aren't.
"All the city is saying is that the private developer will produce more tax dollars and create more jobs than these homeowners do," Berliner said. "The neighborhood's not blighted. It's just in their way because the city thinks this is a good place for private development. I don't see how that would make this public use."
Doug Kendall, executive director of the Community Rights Counsel, which supports New London in the case, said Kelo and the others are asking the court to intervene in what should be a legislative question.
"The city of New London determined that this waterfront project was critical to the economy and future of a depressed New England town, and they want a court to second-guess that," Kendall said. "Eminent domain remakes cities. It's a power that should be used carefully and only when necessary, but government has to have it."
What you forget, my friend, is that property rights are the last, and probably the only, refuge of man against the government. A poor man can sit on his property and tell the world to go to hell, and the government can't do anything about that, because it's his, to paraphrase someone much smarter than me. If we say that property can be taken away so someone else can use it more profitably, I really don't see what we have a constitution for. I'm sure my house could raise a lot more revenue as an office building. But it's my house.
Dana Berliner, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which represents Kelo and several of her neighbors, sees it as a dispute that pits the affluent against those who aren't.
"All the city is saying is that the private developer will produce more tax dollars and create more jobs than these homeowners do," Berliner said. "The neighborhood's not blighted. It's just in their way because the city thinks this is a good place for private development. I don't see how that would make this public use."
Doug Kendall, executive director of the Community Rights Counsel, which supports New London in the case, said Kelo and the others are asking the court to intervene in what should be a legislative question.
"The city of New London determined that this waterfront project was critical to the economy and future of a depressed New England town, and they want a court to second-guess that," Kendall said. "Eminent domain remakes cities. It's a power that should be used carefully and only when necessary, but government has to have it."
What you forget, my friend, is that property rights are the last, and probably the only, refuge of man against the government. A poor man can sit on his property and tell the world to go to hell, and the government can't do anything about that, because it's his, to paraphrase someone much smarter than me. If we say that property can be taken away so someone else can use it more profitably, I really don't see what we have a constitution for. I'm sure my house could raise a lot more revenue as an office building. But it's my house.
