Thursday, June 23, 2005

Supreme Court Decision on Property Seizure: State Sanctioned Descrimination

My take on the Supreme Court's decision allowing local governments to seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development:

It's understandable when a local government siezes private property to make way for a public work like a highway. The recipient of the land is the government and by extension the public. But, as a result of Supreme Court's ruling, anyone with big finances and strings to pull can, and will, be able to appropriate prime real estate for their own purposes. This decision creates a mechanism by which the state becomes a tool for the transfer of property from one private individual to another, preferred, private individual.

Once upon a time blacks rode in the back of busses, were forced onto undesirable real estate, on the basis of the color of their skin. Today, someone can be forced to give up their seat based upon the size of their bank account. Result: the ultimate winner isn't "common good", it's the person who will profit from the appropriated land. And, we enter an era of officially sanctioned descrimination.

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