Posted on 04/22/2011 4:16:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
Don't be fooled by The Donald. Take it from one who knows: I'm a South Jersey gal who was raised on the outskirts of Atlantic City in the looming shadow of Trump's towers. All through my childhood, casino developers and government bureaucrats joined hands, raised taxes and made dazzling promises of urban renewal. Then we wised up to the eminent-domain thievery championed by our hometown faux free-marketeers.
America, it's time you wised up to Donald Trump's property redistribution racket, too.
Trump has been wooing conservative activists for months and flirting with a GOP presidential run -- first at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington and most recently at a tea party event in South Florida. He touts his business experience, "high aptitude" and "bragadocious" deal-making abilities. But he's no more a standard-bearer of conservative values, limited government and constitutional principles than the cast of "Jersey Shore."
Too many mega-developers like Trump have achieved success by using and abusing the government's ability to commandeer private property for purported "public use." Invoking the Fifth Amendment takings clause, real estate moguls, parking garage builders, mall developers and sports palace architects have colluded with elected officials to pull off legalized theft in the name of reducing "blight." Under eminent domain, the definition of "public purpose" has been stretched like Silly Putty to cover everything from roads and bridges to high-end retail stores, baseball stadiums and casinos.
While casting himself as America's new constitutional savior, Trump has shown reckless disregard for fundamental private property rights. In the 1990s, he waged a notorious war on elderly homeowner Vera Coking, who owned a little home in Atlantic City that stood in the way of Trump's manifest land development. The real estate mogul was determined to expand his Trump Plaza and build a limo parking lot -- Coking's private property be damned. The nonprofit Institute for Justice, which successfully saved Coking's home, explained the confiscatory scheme:
"Unlike most developers, Donald Trump doesn't have to negotiate with a private owner when he wants to buy a piece of property, because a governmental agency -- the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority or CRDA -- will get it for him at a fraction of the market value, even if the current owner refuses to sell. Here is how the process works.
"After a developer identifies the parcels of land he wants to acquire and a city planning board approves a casino project, CRDA attempts to confiscate these properties using a process called 'eminent domain,' which allows the government to condemn properties 'for public use.' Increasingly, though, CRDA and other government entities exercise the power of eminent domain to take property from one private person and give it to another. At the same time, governments give less and less consideration to the necessity of taking property and also ignore the personal loss to the individuals being evicted."
Trump has attempted to use the same tactics in Connecticut and has championed the reviled Kelo vs. City of New London Supreme Court ruling upholding expansive use of eminent domain. He told Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto that he agreed with the ruling "100 percent" and defended the chilling power of government to kick people out of their homes and businesses based on arbitrary determinations:
"The fact is, if you have a person living in an area that's not even necessarily a good area, and government, whether it's local or whatever, government wants to build a tremendous economic development, where a lot of people are going to be put to work and make (an) area that's not good into a good area, and move the person that's living there into a better place -- now, I know it might not be their choice -- but move the person to a better place and yet create thousands upon thousands of jobs and beautification and lots of other things, I think it happens to be good."
Like most statist promises of bountiful job creation, government-engineered redevelopment math rarely adds up. Trump's corporations have backed casino industry bailouts and wealth-redistributing "tax-increment financing" schemes -- the very kind of taxpayer-subsidized interventions we've seen on a grand scale under the Obama administration.
Championing liberty begins at the local level. There is nothing more fundamental than the principle that a man's home is his castle. Donald Trump's career-long willingness to trample this right tells you everything you need to know about his bogus tea party sideshow.
Donald Trump: Because having OUR liberal in the White House is more important than any principles.
In my business, I deal with the public all day & probably half of my customers are travelers - several have told me that Trump has their vote if he is running. They appreciate that he is saying what the other politicians won’t. My sister is a rabid social conservative, but she says she will vote for Trump.
My feeling is that our country is on fire right now - the TOP priority for me is to put that fire out! Then, you can worry about the other stuff. Our economy is on the verge of collapsing - if that happens - none of the other stuff matters. The fact that Trump is NOT a politician is a big plus in my book. I’m sick of the pretense that we have two “opposing” parties - that’s a big crock. I have been feeling like our next president is going to be a complete outsider. I hope Trump stays the course, I like it.
Thank you, Michelle.
Bet you wouldn't say that about Obama. You're rallying against a President who wasn't properly vetted and you want conservatives to turn a blind eye to Trump's past?
Screw you!
He’s little different than Obama in my opinion. He tells people what they want to hear and if elected he’ll do exactly as he pleases.
If someone wants to build a skyscraper where an apple orchard sits, then they should pay downtown, skyscraper prices for the land, not apple orchard prices. Such pricing would keep out all but the most efficient builders.
You wrote: “Like Bush and the Texas Rangers stadium in Arlington? Or different? Why does it matter now and not then?”
Nice try. Obviously you assume that anyone who opposes Trump is some sort of Bush insider — which is ridiculous. BUT to answer your question: I would say that if Bush did that it DID matter — and I don’t know the details of the Arlington case.
HOWEVER: I would also add that Bush did not have a habit of that and Bush did not champion that type of business deal as to why he should be President — as Trump does. And oh, from what I can tell, Bush is not running now.
If you believe Trump is a conservative, you are certainly entitled to it. But Trump is anything but. He is also a big flip flopper
Technically speaking, that's exactly what it is.
I don’t care who finally wins the Republican nomination, I’m voting against obama.
If Mitt Romney came out blasting about Obama’s birth certificate would all the FReeper’s jump on his bandwagon? After all, they’ve both flopped on almost every major position. Both were successful in business. Both supported big govenment healthcare. Both flopped on abortion and gay marriage. Neither pretended to be a conservative until recently. In fact, Romney has pretended to be conservative longer than Trump, who supported Hillary in 2008. And Romney has experience in running a campaign and being an elected government executive.
What say you, Trump fans? If we get Mitt on board the Birther Express will you all start talking about him as the only one who can beat Obama?
NO TRUMP! One liberal with delusions of godhood in the White House is enough.
I will never forgive Trump when he said 3 years ago, that President Bush should be impeached after calling him the worst president.
Your obligation is to come up with someone better than Trump who can dislodge Obama from the White House. Don't just diss the Donald. Tell me who has a better chance and that includes fund raising ability
Trump's no more a standard-bearer of conservative values, limited government and constitutional principles than the cast of "Jersey Shore."
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