An e-mail to Cuz about Eminent Domain

Here is my concern... a real case with estimated numbers. A developer wanted to put up a shopping center in St. Louis County on the Southeast side of the interesection of Hwys 40 and 170. There were older low income houses in that area. It was for the most part, a blighted area.

If I recall the homes were worth about $60K The developer paid $80K to each homeowner, on average, and any holdouts were forced out by ED. There were few holdouts.

The homeowners won (25% increase in their property values), the developer won, the community won (the shopping center is quite popular), and the governments get the tax revenue. Not a bad deal allround.

My concern is, as a businessman, would I REALLY pay a 25% markup on those properties now that the SCOTUS decision comes down? Why don't I go down to the courthouse, buy some votes and get the properties for 25% below market or better? What is to stop me?

Here are some things that would stop me -- the press, boycotts, Indictments for bribery, 12 gauge shotguns, etc. I don't know if I would risk it.

So the ED decision is not entirely evil.

YES it IS. It puts the STATE before the CITIZEN. Our rights are to be PROTECTED by the state, and are not GIVEN TO US BY IT.

This Statist mindset is the most dangerous thing about this decision. We are subject to the will of the state. Sound familiar? Sound like Socialism? Communism? Nazism? Yep! A big damn slippery slope. (By the way, for the uniformed when you use these arguments, the Nazis were the National Socialist German Workers Party They were socialists in BIG way.) When the state becomes more important than Joe Sixpack, Joe Sixpack better become AWARE quickly.

(Switch Rant Off)