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.
Thanks, you've added a new dimension to my nightmares that I wouldn;t have considered tonight. Everything's fine as long as the government gets it's cut. (Puking smilie here!)
"Come to Town X! We'll find you a wonderful site at low rates for your firm! We'll even help in your "negotiations" for whatever plot of land you like!"
Bread and Circuses ping
Nicely done, Blood of Tyrants.
They suffer a corrupt local government and a corrupt national court that supports tyranny.
March to their defense now ! The court may declare marching to be illegal tomorrow.
We should pass resolutions via ballot in EVERY town and city to disallow this practice. We should do so at the state level, too. And, if possible, at the federal level.
If we can pass rules against this in one town, and get nationalcoverage for it, MAYBE a movement will take off.
I may have to look into how to get something like this on the ballot around here ...
Good lord, I can't belive I am agreeing with most DU'ers on something. But this goes to our CORE. This is some major shit.
I agree, Paradox.
When is the 2nd amendment not a CRIME. If this man stands his ground with a gun in his hand is he a criminal ? I say no.
Lol! There was a link on the other thread earlier today. I think this is great that we've found common ground finally. Unfortunately it took the Supreme Communists to screw us out of another constitutional right to do it...
I'm sorely disappointed there is only 147 replies here!! Are we the only people that know? Where is the news on this? Where is the President when we need him? I love my President.......he better answer on this!
Note that the benefits are to the "community", not the individual.
If there's ANYTHING to be optimistic about, it's that when we survive this crisis, we MIGHT have found an issue to get through to some of the other side on. They KNOW this court decision is wrong ... we just need them to see and understand WHY it's wrong, and what we need to do to prevent this from happening again.
I think we'll survive this, but it does bother me as it means I'll be wasting time dealing with this issue and not spending it with my family.
Exactly. It takes a village to seize your property.
Sadly, my money is on Fear Factor. For the majority of Americans. Unless it happens to them, or someone close to them, they won't give a diddly-damn.
Where has been the outrage over local government's willy-nilly seizures of "properties used in the commission of a crime"? Screw all that, man - there's a Jerry Springer rerun comin' on!
'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" '
Why do people invest in the US rather than banana republics? Because they know their investment is theirs, that the government will not nationalize their business.
Why do people work? Because they will keep the fruits of their labors. As a corollary, they work less when taxes are high.
The justices err when they contend this policy increases the "public good". Without property rights, individuals have no incentive to build, own or maintain property.
"Did you see the thread on DU? Talking about a truce with FR over this..."
You've GOT to be kidding, right?
If they are upset, too, then maybe we could start a petition to congress and invite those at DU to sign with us.
One of our legal eagle FReepers, (one that has plenty of Constitutional and legislative legal experience), should write the petition (even without DU support, still needs to be done). IMHO, it should include:
If I've left out anything, add your own thoughts, or offer changes and explanation if you've got good reasons. Keep it specific to property rights and the SC - don't want to chase off any DU support - that is, if they have finally started to wake up.
This was actually the first story on NBC nightly news tonight. Also heard it many time on NPR in the car with my dad on the way home from Boston. They need to show people ready to riot and march for this to get any more attention. Such a sad day.
There are sevral threads running on this subject, one with over 600 replies.
What if those people in Conn. partnered up with the Native Americans? Kinda be hard for the "other" government to take over.......What do ya think about that???
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