Posted on 06/23/2005 8:06:55 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
Everybody knows about the shot that was heard around the world as the birthing pains of this once great nation. Today, sadly, we may have heard it's death knell.
It did not come with violence or shots fired. It came with the virtual elimination of personal property rights.
Our founding fathers knew how important the ownership of property was and sought to protect the right to be secure in the ownership of property to the extent that they enshrined the guarantee that property would not be taken for public use without due process and just compensation.
For over 200 years it was understood that "public use" meant that the ownership would transfer from the private owner to the local, state, or federal government for things such as military bases, roads, schools, prisons, etc. Now, the meaning of "public use" has been altered by 5 people who were never elected to office and in all reality, are completely unaccountable to anyone, to mean privately owned condos, shopping centers, and business parks under the thin guise that those enterprises would contribute more tax money to the coffers, thus increasing the "public good"
Justice Stevens, writing for the majority said that judges should give city councils and state legislatures "broad latitude in determining what public needs justify the use of the takings power," he added. To make sure that he wasn't misunderstood he added, "The city has carefully formulated a development plan that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including, but not limited to, new jobs and increased tax revenue," and just destroyed any pretence that you have any recourse whatsoever if the government or county decides that they want your property for any reason at all.
Sandra Day O'Connor writing a scathing dissent correctly said that now rich and politically land developers and businesses could basically take your land away from you with the help from the local government. Yes, you could fight it in court, but it is now fruitless as you are guaranteed to lose in a fixed fight.
For years the people have for the most party sat quietly as the government stole more and more freedoms from us. Prior to 1914 and fool could take any drug he or she wanted and kill themselves, thus increasing the quality of the gene pool for the rest of us. Before 1918, the government had no claim to your wages and could not tax them. Prior to 1934, Sears sold machine guns from their catalog and nobody thought anything about it. Prior to the 1950's preachers could freely endorse or denigrate any political candidate they wanted, just as had been done since the very first town government was formed in this country almost 350 years prior. Since 1986 it has been illegal to manufacture and sell a machine gun to a civilian despite the fact that in the past several decades the number of people int he US murdered by a person with a machine gun has been exactly one, and the person doing the shooting was a police officer using a gun issued to the police department.
But hope is not lost however, ownership of real property does a funny thing to people. It is a spot that a person can say, "This land is MINE!" with a dedication and a fierceness that is somewhat scary. Religion and politics and abortion and the WOT all take a back seat when two neighbors are faced with having their property stolen by the government.
Maybe that bell sounding isn't the death knell but the alarm.
Maybe this will awake the sheeple to realize that the socialist have gone too far.
Maybe the bell is just signalling round two of the Revolutionary War.
Will this war be fought with bullets or ballots?
We shall see.
Great post. I have no idea where this is going to end up, and right now I'm too shocked to come up with any ideas...
Looks like a good lot for a frisbee factory ... it'd bring in more taxes than that useless piee of land just sitting there!
I suggested that we unite with DU at the homes of the plaintiff when the bulldozers come to tear down their houses. Hundreds of us should show up to demonstrate on the properties. 'twould be a "kumbaya" moment between Freepers and DUers, we could have some beer, tell jokes, and at least agree on SOMETHING...
Just days ago there was a judge asking for more security for Judges, Now we know why. So from this point forward if I am on a jury and someone is acussed of bring harm to anyone in black I shall look the other way and say not guilty.
Give congress the final word, by permitting it to overturn Supreme Court rulings, but a 2/3rd's majority of both houses.
As one FReeper put it: There will be property confiscations like wildfire in the coming months.
Bread and circuses
Is there a Robert Moses Ping list?
That would be a paradox.
Good idea.
Sorta like the liquidation of the kulaks?
Fair Market value does not apply here! They would appraise at the residential market value. Must be appraised at the commericial value price! Increase values ten-fold if not more!
ping
I can't really say that I'm surprised, except at the rate at which things are happening. Illegal immigration, trade and budget deficits, etc., and now this. The only logical conclusion I can offer is that powerful forces exist that seek to destroy our Republic. Unfortunately, they are doing a very good job.
As the real wealth of this country continues to be redistributed on a global scale under the guise of "free trade", expect more and more asset seizures as our corporate government needs "hard assets" instead of paper ones.
If there is a silver lining in this, it might be that the bastards overplayed their hand on this one. Folks across the board appear to be really ticked off over this. Maybe something will come of it. Or maybe they'll just go back to watching Fear Factor next week. Time will tell.
Yeah, it's a bad decision, and government will want to get their onfiscations "in before the lock", you might say.
If this decision eventually is somehow overturned, what does it do for people who suddenly have a housing development where the family farm used to be. They wouldn't have much legal recourse, as everything would have been "perfectly legal" when it was done.
Aaah, very appropos :-)
That opinion sticks in my craw.
The wife was just watching TV and saw a fastsite.com commercial. She laughed, "What is that? A government site to get private property??"
Sadly, she isn't far from the truth. Now that the governments can take properties, they will seek buyers by all means, perhaps even with a web site and television advertising.
I'm waiting to hear that some developer want to develop the land of this little ranch in Texas. ;-)
At least 5 of them appear to have "isolated" their heads up their wazoos -- but then, Souter, Breyer, Bader-Witchberg, and Stevens have NEVER cared about the "people" in any case.
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