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.
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1429877/posts?page=1
My thoughts on this.
To: U. S. Congress
PETITION FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVENCES
We the People of the United States, do hereby demand that our duly elected representatives in both houses of Congress, initiate impeachment proceedings against the following Supreme Court Justices:
John Paul Stevens
Anthony Kennedy
David H. Souter
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen G. Breyer
We, the undersigned, consider the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London, 04-108, rendered June 23, 2005, not only unacceptable, but to be in criminal violation of the Justice's oaths to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Be advised that We the People regard elected officials to be our public servants. Failure to take action against the Justices specified shall be considered support for the decision rendered in the aforementioned case, and will result in our resolve to ensure your defeat in the next election.
Being from myriad political and ideological spectra, we are united in our belief that our right to own property is inalienable.Sincerely,
PLEASE sign the petition - we need to let Congress know of our outrage.
Oh, I don't consider it a waste of time to overturn this, I just lament that some of my time now MUST be spent on this ... I'd rather this never had occurred, as I have many things I'd rather be doing ... but there are just some things that MUST be done, no matter if I like them or not.
So, I probably should have clarified that it is definitely not a waste of time to fight this ... it's something that should be fought. I meant more in a mathematical sense where my rights should be at point A, but have suddenlty been moved to point B, and I need to spen d time in the effort to get them back to point A ... so time will be spent getting me right back to where I should have been in the first place.
I definitely agree with you: something needs to be done about this, and quickly, before more damage is done.
People should have the ability to do what they want with property. The individual knows what is best for themselves, and a truly free society - which an emphasis on individual freedom - is the prosperous lead into the 21st century. This is how America won the cold war. Individuals are the heart of this republic, and their personal search for wealth, happiness, and the joys of freedom are really what drives the economy of this outstanding nation. This judgement by SCOTUS is wrong, and unconstitutional. Socialism has been proven wrong in economics - to see this look at The Soviet Union or any other country that has heavily dabbled in socialism and its versions. Emminent domain has been used before - and it has helped build great developments like railroads and highways. This judgement by the Supreme Court is flawed and outrageous. They have stepped over the line of Public Good in the 5th Amendment to include economy as a public good the government can define. This country needs tax revenues. Without pulling our troops out of most foreign regions - we can not support our account deficit without relying on buying debt from foreign creditors - including communist countries in which political relations are uncertain. The people need to feel trust from their government in order to reciprocate this trust in these uncertain times. And we need to work together and trust each other, to be united, to work together to help one another and to keep our land safe. The supreme court has placed this trust, sadly, in the hands of the elected officials and out of the hands of the citizens.
Brian Reed
They called the men who opposed King George melodramatic, too.
Corporations and individuals seizing private property isn't "Liberty". It's "felony robbery", and "felony civil Rights violations".
"Self-governance" isn't when a bunch of unelected judges not only go against the document that is the sole source of their authority, but against 90% of the people. That is tyranny.
As for "untrustworthy" people, if you think our government is "trustworthy", then I have a bridge to sell you.
Just come out say that you don't have a problem with robbery of the weak by the powerful. At least that would be more honest than claiming tyranny is liberty.
Don't bother debating statist jackboot lickers.
I signed it and then 2 minutes later my wife signed it. I was 1702 she was 1709 lets keep this thing going! We need a million at least on this folks. Spread the Word lets get this going. Let's show them that We The People are not dead! We will defend OUR Country.
Ravenstar
Unfamilliar with 'Bubba' politics? Where do you think Clinton learned the ropes? He just took local corruption to a global level.
Well put!
#8 Good point! However I've been watching the loss of a free press.
If they didn't need to make room to house and supply all those immigrants, they wouldn't need to take your property for any reason.
I don't think this is being done to house 'first time home buyers', or legal immigrants, unless you count everyone who came over sfter the first couple of boats. It is not a question of space, but one of greed.
Population growth from immigration is what has been taking your freedoms away.
So long as we flood the country with people, so long will even I agree that our rights and freedoms must be renegotiated down.
Correct.
The threat of high rates of immigration of any stripe (legal or otherwise) without assimilation (which is what the last decade or two of hyphenation has effectively prevented) is this: When people who come here from elsewhere, who do not understand the language, attempt to learn about America (should they even make the attemt) they will be spoon fed tripe in the guise of history by teachers in school systems who seldom understand the founders or the founding documents any better than their students.
This is no accident. The socialist/Marxist presence in America has been subverting the concept of liberty for a long time (they started before the '60s, but that is when I started really noticing).
The more people who do not understand either the American Republic, the basic concepts thereof, and the freedoms which appertain, the more useful idiots there are who will vote for socialists based on what they believe will land on their plate as a result, regardless of the unconstitutionality or immorality of the actions of their elected officials.
To someone whose government decreed every aspect of their lives, the ability to buy what they can afford is 'freedom'. The broader concept is lost on them.
If these types of rulings continue (as if this one is not enough!), the broader concept of freedom may be lost completely.
This is just one arena in the culture war that goes beyond just culture, but toward economic destabilization. There is much, much more: (see post 29) another thread.
While my intent was to describe the problem simply from the incredible opportunities which will be presented for local graft and corruption, you have touched on a broader issue we should all pay attention to.
You mean like when people die before retirement age (not paying out social security benefits) and the fedgov takes half of everything you have with death taxes?
You think the increase in heart disease and cancer are just an element of an improved standard of living? (hmmm... trans fats...)
"..those who oppose this ruling want all zoning laws repealed". Its a lie, but they will use that spin to their advantage, don't help them..."
No worries. That's a pretty lame point compared to some rich guy asking his gov'ment bud to eminent domain a woman's house because she won't sleep with him.
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