Old Hippie

Another ludicrous decision handed down by the Supreme Court! Another blow to individual freedom and another nail in the coffin of this great country! I am truly amazed! AMAZED! They voted 5-4 to uphold a city's right to exercise Eminent Domain for public use when that "public use" is higher tax revenues for the city through a private developer. B.F.S.

How in hell do these justices think that public use can be stretched to include increased tax revenue? If generating more tax revenue is the only requirement for defining public use, then absolutely anyone's property can be taken whenever the local government decides it wants to do so. This is the end of private property as we know it.

The four justices who dissented, Renquist, O'Connor, Scalia and Thomas are looking pretty good in my eyes right now. At least they recognize that this ruling virtually destroys personal property rights in this country. It goes directly against our Constitution and gives local governments unlimited power over any property in their jurisdiction. You no longer have control of your own property, you are simply allowed to "think" you have control until the government decides it has a better use for your property. Not when YOU decide but when THEY decide.

I am not arguing against the proper use of Eminent Domain. I understand the reason for and the necessity of the taking of someone's property for the use of the general public as generally accepted. Public good had always meant parks, roads, bridges, schools, police, fire, etc., the things in a local community that everybody needs. It has never meant to be higher tax revenues.

The poorer neighborhoods will be the most likely targets for destruction and reconstruction simply becasue they pay lower property taxes than wealthier neighborhoods. This in itself is unfair. Sure, life isn't fair, but our government is supposed to be. Chuckle. At least it should try. It just seems to me that our "individual" rights have been assaulted again and when it happens at the Supreme Court level, it is very disturbing indeed. They are supposed to be the defenders of liberty, not the assailers.

I think the only cause for hope in this case is that the court encouraged states to write their own laws defining what is considered public use. Every single state needs to get busy and craft those definitions and stop the idiocy of local governments stealing property so they can have more tax money to spend. Do you think the states will do that? I think Florida has already done something like this. I'm hopeful that every state will consider this very quickly before there is a general backlash by the public.

Then again, most people in this country won't give a damn. Many won't even know this decision has been handed down and those who are aware of it probably won't even realize what this decision means. And even if they do realize the deeper meaning and potential consequences of this ridiculous decision, they may well ignore it because they feel it will most likely never affect them.

And this may be an even bigger problem to our individual freedoms than the poor decision itself. The fact that most people are so apathetic about what our government does, unless it directly affects them at the time, causes me great consternation. And it makes me glad that I'm over half a century old already. Why, you ask? Because I will probably be dead before this country falls apart from the dead weight and bad decisions and socialism that is overtaking us.

I do feel bad for my daughter and grandkids, they can't outrun it. They will have to live with it and they will not like it. But the only way we can stem the tide of socialistic laws and attitudes in this "capitalistic" society is by confronting them head on and stopping the madness. Everything is done by individuals. All property is owned by individuals. All decisions are made by individuals. And the individual is under assault. This latest Supreme Court decision proves it.

Individual OH