Thursday, June 30, 2005

Eminent Domain

I am not a property owner so recent Supreme Court decision on eminent domain for a private development over a few "hold out homeowners" just passes me by. I don't really care, but it's interesting.

A conservative talk show host was railing against "big government," but this is actually "big corporations" using government as a tool. It's conservative's beloved "market place" in action. Big fish eat little fish. Office park versus gandma who lived there all those years in her little cottage.

Liberals might say this proves the point. Even government now serves corporations. The fox now runs the hen house. Republicans on the Supreme Court, in the White House and Congress.

I say it's not just government or corporations. It's "the people" in disguise. Marketplace behavior. There are small businesses, in that town, wanting to see the office complex built. Economic base, jobs, shoppers, survival. Teacher pay raises. Ruled by the almighty dollar. Some little people against other little people.

But be wary of "bigness."

I remember a line from former President Gerald Ford's 1976 state of the union speech, and he's even a Republican. Speaking about the year that had just past, Ford said:

"At the same time, Americans became increasingly alienated from big institutions." "They were steadily losing confidence, not just in big government but in big business, big labor, and big education, among others." "Ours was a troubled land."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those on the supreme court taking the side of the little people were the conservatives. It was the liberals on the court that voted for the taking of private land to give to private corporation. Althought the democrats as a whole are trying to make us assume that it was the conservatives on the court who sided with the big business, it was not that way.

Theslowlane Robert Ashworth said...

Good point in above comment. It wasn't the conservatives on the court that brought this ruling.

I am not a big fan of property rights anyway. In the world of the marketplace, outside the court, the big fish often eat the little fish.