This Land is NOT Your Land

As has been said, the United States is an idea. We are not held together by common ethnic backgrounds, geographical similarities, or even a connected reason for leaving our homelands to come here. What binds us together as a nation are a few basic ideas: the right to own property, the personal freedom to succeed or fail at whatever we choose, and the expectation of living without undue interference from our government. So when the Supreme Court rules that a developer in New London, Connecticut can take people’s homes to develop a shopping center, I have to ask: what is going to continue to keep us united as Americans? How many more slaps in the face of this magnitude can we as citizens take?

(To read the actual judicial ruling, opinions and dissenting opinions, go to http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=04-108.)

To put this in perspective, how easy is it to leap from a developer clearing out some lower income people in a blighted neighborhood (as the current story coming out of New London goes) to seizing and bulldozing homes in a growing area simply to make it easier to develop? And by the way, who in their right mind has ever counted on construction companies to use reason? These are the same people who have the temerity to mow down forests and eliminate acres of natural habitats so that they don’t have to build around those pesky trees.

Worried about corruption in politics? How tempting will it become for developers to line the pockets of politicians in exchange for carte blanche to do what they want? If it's legal to push people off of their land for "economic reasons" the ethics become increasingly fuzzy. And since this is more likely to happen in growing areas how will you give people a fair market value for their properties?

Let’s pretend this is happening in an upside-down real estate market such as Los Angeles. How do you take someone who paid $95,000 for their 2-bedroom home 25 years ago, bulldoze it, and expect them to find a place to live in the same market where you can no longer get that same house in a safe neighborhood for under $950,000? Not to mention the emotional wrenching of forcing someone off of their land. It brings to mind pictures of Tevye in ‘Fiddler On the Roof’ when his Russian “friend” is telling them they have to leave.

There has been a steady erosion of personal civil liberties over the past 30 years, and surprisingly many of them have come during Republican administrations and from a conservative-leaning court. If this is conservative politics, then I wish no part of it. I expect conservatives to try to chip away at my civil liberties by restricting abortion, allowing cops to beat my ass for no good reason, and to force me to worship their god. I certainly don’t expect them to protect me from myself by making me wear a seat belt or ride a motorcycle with a helmet; I don’t expect them to tax the holy hell out of my business; and I don’t fathom them allowing people to take my land for questionable reasons. Yet, all of this has happened under the administrations of Bush Sr. & Jr.

I expect Democrats to be wacky and lean towards a socialistic communal utopia. I expect conservatives to be wacky and lean towards “every person for themselves.” That’s ok; they kind of balance each other out. But they both have to exist; otherwise, there is no balance. Therefore, if this is the new brand of conservatism, then kiss America the Idea goodbye.

Something can be done. Now is the time for Americans to overrule the Supreme Court by pressing their state and federal representatives to pass laws restricting the scope of eminent domain.