Public 'Interest' Shouldn't Mean Money (Steyn Slams SC "Eminent Domain" Decision -- MUST READ!)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 7/03/2005 | Mark Steyn

[PGalt]

WOW! Mark Steyn at his best. The man is brilliant.

Thanks for posting.

[sergeantdave]

Next thing we'll see is the supreme fascists telling property owners they can't use their land if certain bugs, rats and beetles live on it. That could never happen, right?

[Lowcountry]

I am a Real Estate Developer. I disagree 100% with the ruling by the Supreme Court. I would like everyone who is interested in this Eminent Domain subject to be clear about who needs to be watched as a result of this ruling - Local Governments.

As a believer in the free market, I believe that no one should be coerced into selling or buying another person's property. Furthermore, I believe that the force of government should be left out of that equation totally. From my point of view, this ruling is a logical extension of the creeping greed of local activist who have empowered their local officials to lay heavy hands on property across the country in the name of environmentalism.

The next time you hear about a group of NIMBYs agitating about a developer who wants to build homes on a "pristine" tract of land, think about who gets enriched by the hand of government - those who have taken the property by force of law rather than buying it with their own money.

[Gritty]

Lincoln was right about a robed state: A handful of whimsical commissars settling the rights of 300 million citizens is not republican government. This Independence Day, America needs a "new birth of freedom."

Boy, has Steyn ever hit the nail on the head this Independence Day!

[liberateUS]

I had not heard the Pelosi "Almost as if God has spoken" quote before. She really is a moron, isn't she? Of course, if the Democrats want to marry themselves to the wrong side of this issue, I say we let them!

Isn't she married to a big time developer in California?

[lawgirl]

LOVING Steyn this Sunday morning.

[theBuckwheat]

Steyn is right. Any Constitutional Republic has reached a very dangerous point when the average citizen cannot, by reading the plain text of the Constitution, be able to predict how the Supreme Court should rule on a given case, especially one as clear as the recent one about eminent domain.

Why bother teaching the Constitution at all in High School? It is a waste of time. The one on paper is completely different from the one that an observer of the Court would construct by reading the majority opinions.

Should schools even mention the Missing Amendments? You know, like the Second and the Tenth? Yet we have the Materialized Amendments: the so-called right to abortion, is protected and referenced even though it does not appear in the text.

There are important and sobering parallels here in Christ's words to the Pharisees in Mark 7:8-9, where he said they have made tradition (and previous interpretations) more important than the original document itself:

" “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9 He was also saying to them, “You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition...." (NASB)

How well this fits the present Court who nicely sets aside the Constitution in order to follow stare decisis, or the precedent of previous decisions.

In so doing, the Court builds an artificial structure of "logic" that, with each decision, takes it further and further away from the Text, and now takes the Court into Absurdity: where stare decisis dictates the meaning of words and phrases like "public use" rather than the plain meaning of words and phrases being the standard by which we validate stare decisis.

We can either allow this dangerous foolishness to continue, and watch our country descend into legal chaos, or steps must quickly be taken to rescue the Constitution from the very people who are suppose to protect it.

Maybe an impeachment or two would be a good place to start.

[DumpsterDiver]

Steyn writes so well that he almost discourages me from writing my column on the defalcation of the Supreme Court.

At first I read that as "... my column on the defecation of the Supreme Court."

At any rate, I just learned a new word.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
One entry found for defalcation
Main Entry: de·fal·ca·tion
Function: noun

1. archaic: DEDUCTION
   
2. the act or an instance of embezzling
   
3. a failure to meet a promise or an expectation

[little jeremiah]

later read.

[rolling_stone]

At first I read that as "... my column on the defecation of the Supreme Court."

I assumed it was a "spelling error", the Supremes have been defecating on us for some time now...

[Tribune7]

ping

[hattend]

Steyn BTTT

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[Travis McGee]

All hail KING COURT!

[Joan912]

We actually had a bitter "eminent domain" battle here in Lakewood, Ohio, a little over a year ago. Apparently the liberal (and moronic) mayor of our city had been sufficiently wined and dined by a local developer and was willing to throw hundreds of people out of their houses and apartments. When the local citizens got wind of this, the city was forced to put this development issue on the ballot along with an eminent domain ban. The mayor was kicked out of office and her sweetheart deal with the developer went down in flames.

Private property is our last bastion of freedom, no thanks to the Supreme Court. Welcome to the fight!

[Joan912]

Thanks for deciphering his post! :)

[irv]

A handful of whimsical commissars settling the rights of 300 million citizens is not republican government.

That's why it's encouraged. Even when you know that getting a good decision (or even a well-thought-out one) from SCOTUS is a crap shoot, there's a certain mentality that prefers the crapshoot to actually trying to persuade people.

[Rummyfan]

"If the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court . . . the people will have ceased to be their own rulers."

Bump! Bump!!!

Thanks Pokey!

[Lurker]

"However, if thy neighbor is an ass and thou hast financing for a luxury hotel, covet away."

Ya gotta love the way this guy writes.

L

[familyop]

With Pelosi's background in polytheism, her comment was no surprise. Neither is her mob-ish position on local politics.

BTW, have many of us wondered at who is behind our own government's pressure on Israel to drive Israelis out of their homes in their own country?