Eminent Domain Is Imminent Disaster

GEOFFREY R. FOWLER / Opinion / Hartford Courant 25jun2005

The June 23 Supreme Court ruling on local governments' right to seize people's homes and businesses for property development is only the latest tragedy in a liberal court system gone amok.

If anyone thinks the ramifications of this ruling will stop at the displacement of the Fort Trumbull, New London, neighborhood to make way for upscale housing, a hotel and office complex, they are sorely wrong. This ruling sends one clear and sobering message: There is no such thing as private property; everything belongs to the government.

What will we see next, churches seized, schools razed, nonprofits displaced - all in the name of the good of the whole? Why not? After all, they aren't paying their proportionate share of taxes.

How about California? Proposition 13 limited property taxes on real estate. It benefited many people who wouldn't have otherwise been able to keep their homes. Imagine the elderly being forced out so that their homes can be resold and brought up to current evaluations just to benefit city coffers. There's no question our Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves.

Obviously the judicial branch controls our government. So what can be done? A constitutional amendment comes to mind. If we don't see each of our members of Congress behind such an idea, then it will be clear which ones believe less in the Constitution and rights of the individual than they do in socialist doctrine.

If so, I sincerely hope my fellow voters make some important decisions at the polls.

Geoffrey R. Fowler
Southington

source: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-lets0625.artjun25,0,6125063.story 25jun2005