Eminent Domain, part I: The difference between perception and reality
"Eminent Domain" is the legal euphemism used when local or state governments seize private property from individual citizens to give to corporate developers who will pay higher taxes because of having built higher-valued buildings on the land in question. This is a horrible process, but one small good comes of it.
Appearing to change the subject, I'd like to remind my readers of all the times they heard that conservatives are for corporations or state and local governments, and that liberals are for the little guy, and use the federal government to help him out. I'd like to point out that in eminent domain cases, naturally, conservatives have a clear claim staked on their loyalties: a coalition of state or local governments and big corporations together trying to screw over the liberals' little guys. Conversely, the liberals are obviously going to oppose these eminent domain shams, right?
Surprise! Hated conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the conservative and ultra-conservative columnists and opinion journalists who support him all oppose the seizing of private property to turn it over to those who will generate more tax revenue. Why would they oppose their corporation-friends, you ask?
Real conservatives don't love corporations on principle. They love the constitution and the just use of the law. They don't seek the good of corporations in all things. They seek the correct application of the law, the chief law being the Constitution, which has always prohibited the use of eminent domain laws to increase tax revenue.
So, if conservatives don't support this use of "eminent domain," just who does, you well might ask. The answer is: liberals! Even though I don't like using such a nice name to describe such illiberal people, that's what they're called in this day and age. Liberals are always the ones behind using eminent domain laws to seize private property and hand it over to corporations who will pay more in property taxes (and probably more income tax too). Why would they hurt the little guy, whom they putatively love, and help corporations, whom they putatively hate? The truth is that liberals see government (be it national, state, or local) as the source of all good things, and higher tax revenue and higher government spending are always sought, at the expense of just about anything else, be it corporation, or little guy, or the law itself.
The real difference between conservatives and liberals is this: conservatives put law above the government, while liberals put government above the law.
SRS
Note: this blog entry used to be found at Backlog Bob's Blog. It no longer appears there.
Appearing to change the subject, I'd like to remind my readers of all the times they heard that conservatives are for corporations or state and local governments, and that liberals are for the little guy, and use the federal government to help him out. I'd like to point out that in eminent domain cases, naturally, conservatives have a clear claim staked on their loyalties: a coalition of state or local governments and big corporations together trying to screw over the liberals' little guys. Conversely, the liberals are obviously going to oppose these eminent domain shams, right?
Surprise! Hated conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the conservative and ultra-conservative columnists and opinion journalists who support him all oppose the seizing of private property to turn it over to those who will generate more tax revenue. Why would they oppose their corporation-friends, you ask?
Real conservatives don't love corporations on principle. They love the constitution and the just use of the law. They don't seek the good of corporations in all things. They seek the correct application of the law, the chief law being the Constitution, which has always prohibited the use of eminent domain laws to increase tax revenue.
So, if conservatives don't support this use of "eminent domain," just who does, you well might ask. The answer is: liberals! Even though I don't like using such a nice name to describe such illiberal people, that's what they're called in this day and age. Liberals are always the ones behind using eminent domain laws to seize private property and hand it over to corporations who will pay more in property taxes (and probably more income tax too). Why would they hurt the little guy, whom they putatively love, and help corporations, whom they putatively hate? The truth is that liberals see government (be it national, state, or local) as the source of all good things, and higher tax revenue and higher government spending are always sought, at the expense of just about anything else, be it corporation, or little guy, or the law itself.
The real difference between conservatives and liberals is this: conservatives put law above the government, while liberals put government above the law.
SRS
Note: this blog entry used to be found at Backlog Bob's Blog. It no longer appears there.
posted by weblogbob83 at 4:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home