Kelo v City of New London

Kelo v City of New London
First thing that must be mentioned is the coming taste of sweet justice. Liberal Justice Souter owns land in the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire. Logan Darrow Clements is CEO of Freestar Media and on Monday faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road which is where Souter's house is.

I doubt the application will be approved, but it should. Souter should become victim to the little taste of government ownership that he created...I hope for it.

Government ownership? How is that?

There is no surprise that Breyer, Stephens, Ginsburg and Souter took the position moving towards state property ownership. What is a surprise is that Kennedy joined the Marxist position. Appalling? Yes. But this is why the nomination fight is so important. The nuclear option should have been engaged. The time between the Deal amongst the Gang of 14 and the time that the battle will commence will be enough for the obstructionist Democrats to come up with more procedural ways to block the elimination of nominee filibusters.

But, back to the Marxist property rights decision on Thursday.

One of the fundamental principles of liberty and freedom are the rights to one's own means. The fruits of one's labor, which includes property rights, should trump any right of government. Otherwise freedom will always be at risk.

The USSC has made it acceptable for the government to seize property through the notion of eminent domain. It is already common knowledge that the "just compensation" clause is often abused when dealing with eminent domain. In fact the government generally considers "just compensation" to be well below both current market value and reasonable potential value.

Even in a benevolent form of rule this decision is ripe for abuse. Take the example of Richfield where Walser had a very successful card dealership. Suddenly Best Buy bribed asked the city council if they would give that property to Best Buy to build their headquarters. Suddenly the dollar signs started flashing through the minds of the city administrators and they seized Walser's property. They offered a paltry amount as "just compensation" ignoring very crucial factors in valuing that property.

First they ignored the fact that the business was a growing business making the property potentially more valuable. Next the city ignored the fact that relocating would have adverse monetary costs. The city also refused to address the loss in business due to relocation.

The problem is that the Court ruling essentially gives the government trump ownership over all property. If they wanted something previously they could only steal private property for use on public projects. That was roads, public parks, utility right of ways, etc. Now the government can steal any property for any reason.

That is under a benevolent government. Now consider the possibility of two types of corruption. A corrupt government that steals property to eliminate political opposition could create any justification for seizing property and handing it over to any company. A corrupt government individual that steals the property to hand it over to a company of friends for financial gain.

Under either of these situations an alibi is simply the necessary detail to make it all legal. The crime this week is the Supreme Court made this corruption possible.

Kelo v City of New London is a big government loving, minority hating decision as it will eventually have a larger negative impact on minorities. Kelo must be treated in the same light as the Dred Scott decisions: they are wrong and need to be overturned.

Make no mistake that the appointees to the Supreme Court are crucial...and look at the ones who voted against the Marxist like decision: Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist and O'Conner. To prevent this country from marching further down the dangerous path towards Communism we need more Justices like Scalia and Thomas. And the fight to get them there is worth the losses that will be sustained in the meantime.