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June 24, 2005
Its Against The Vibe
Instapundit has a good round up of posts on the Supreme Court's Kelo decision. Stones cry out has a good summary of the actual Kelo decision. Jim Geraghty thinks this is the sort of decision that will lead to violence
This will get reversed, either through constitutional amendment or through another case when the court's ideological makeup has changed. But in the meantime, I think you will see this leading to violence, when people are being involuntarily forced from their homes. It happens even in the best of circumstances when there's a clear public good like a road or a dam... Citizens will resist violently when they're getting forced out for an office park, a parking garage, a Starbucks...
One of Stephen King's first novels called Roadwork was about this sort of violent scenario. This also reminds of the Australia movie The Castle that was based on the legal case in Australia that was extremely similar to the Kelo case just decided. In it a company decides that it is cheaper to kick some people out of their homes than it is to buy some other property so they get the government to invoke eminent domain to seize the homes. The main family in the movie goes to court and their well meaning, but incompetent lawyer argues that should not be forced out because it is against "the vibe" of the Australian constitution. While The Castle has a happier ending then what happened yesterday (the family got to keep their home), the same "vibe" principal applies here. Eminent domain needs to be used as sparingly as possible and only for specific government purposes after the government has first tried to buy the land normally. If this is not the case, then your property rights mean nothing since no matter how hard you work for your property and no matter how well and how long you take care of it some rich or well connected guy can come along and get the government to give it to him. This decision goes against the vibe of our constitution as well and it is sad that the Supreme Court justices did not see that.
One of the scariest parts of this decision is that the supreme court trusts local governments not to abuse the power. Rod Dreher at the corner thinks this is a bad idea since a corrupt government official can easily abuse their authority:
I'll tell you why the Kelo ruling hits especially close to home this week. The other day, FBI agents raided the Dallas City Hall offices of two city council members, as well as the office of a rich and politically well-connected developer who has built lots of housing in their districts. The FBI is being quiet about what they were looking for, but news reports say it's part of a federal investigation into bribery and suchlike. Nobody has been charged -- yet, anyway -- but if the speculation proves out, this stands to be an infuriating example of what businessmen with money can get done when they have corrupt pols in their pocket. I know, I know, this stuff happens every day, all over the place. But the FBI raids on Dallas City Hall have been front page news here all week, and the nefarious potential connection between private and public power and corruption has been on everyone's mind here in Chinatown, I mean Big D.The same is true with other cities like San Antonio which a few years ago had several of its city council men arrested for bribery. Local governments have abused eminent domain before and the Supreme Court has now assured us that they will abuse it again.
Posted by Pete at June 24, 2005 06:05 PM
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