Author Topic: Well, it IS constitutional...  (Read 5447 times)

Perd Hapley

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Well, it IS constitutional...
« on: June 13, 2011, 01:55:18 AM »
No one seems to remember that eminent domain is allowed for in our Bill of Rights. This sometimes perplexes and amuses me. I've GOT to start lowering my expectations.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2011, 02:36:11 AM »
While eminent domain is in the COTUs it is far too often abused. IMO the Kelo decision was an abomination. Taking private property to "improve the tax base" just doesn't cut it in my book.
When is it used for required infrastructure improvements it is a necessary evil. Too often the "victim" of eminent domain gets shafted.
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lupinus

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2011, 05:32:28 AM »
While eminent domain is in the COTUs it is far too often abused. IMO the Kelo decision was an abomination. Taking private property to "improve the tax base" just doesn't cut it in my book.
When is it used for required infrastructure improvements it is a necessary evil. Too often the "victim" of eminent domain gets shafted.
^^^This^^^

For actual needed use, it's one thing. To put up a condo? Not so much.
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HankB

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2011, 08:30:02 AM »
The original intent was for eminent domain to be used for legitimate public purposes - perhaps a road, maybe a bridge, or even a frontier fort. You can logically extend that today to a public school or municipal airport.

There is no way logic permits it to be extended into an abomination like Kelo, any more than the interstate commerce clause was warped out of recognition in Wickard v. Filburn.
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RevDisk

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2011, 08:38:10 AM »
No one seems to remember that eminent domain is allowed for in our Bill of Rights. This sometimes perplexes and amuses me. I've GOT to start lowering my expectations.

Just because something is Constitutional doesn't mean we SHOULD do it, even if we CAN do it.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2011, 08:40:14 AM »
It seems most people believe that eminent domain was invented by Kelo.
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makattak

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2011, 08:49:34 AM »
It seems most people believe that eminent domain was invented by Kelo.

No, most people have no idea what Kelo is.

Of those who are paying attention and know what Kelo is, most will also know that eminent domain has a very limited, but necessary purpose. Kind of like the interstate commerce clause. That it has become abused is not a reflection on the intended purpose.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2011, 09:43:05 AM »
Of those who are paying attention and know what Kelo is, most will also know that eminent domain has a very limited, but necessary purpose.

Not true.
Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?
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makattak

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2011, 10:29:12 AM »
Not true.

Ok, then. Can I get an example of this phenomenon? My experience doesn't match what you are claiming.
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

RoadKingLarry

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2011, 10:49:04 AM »
It seems most people believe that eminent domain was invented by Kelo.

As Makattak pointed out, some of us know what Kelo did to us and the hideous abomination it wrought on the COTUS .
Just because it is legal don't make it right or just.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain
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roo_ster

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2011, 11:07:00 AM »
fistful makes a cogent point.

Another is proclaiming that <some gov't action>, which violates one's personal libertarian or anarchic beliefs, to be "unconstitutional."

This occurs all to often in cases where the issue is actually federalism at work.

Some folks think that some ideology that has been thoroughly tested in dorm rooms and classrooms throughout the land is a viable replacement for the combined and distilled wisdom of the West, from the ancients through the Founders.
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roo_ster

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MechAg94

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2011, 11:46:17 AM »
Just to be a nitpicker on detail, but the Constitutions doesn't technically "allow" eminent domain.  It doesn't disallow it, but adds the limitation that the owner must be compensated.  Perhaps also it uses the term "public use".  

I thought what Kelo did was basically say the Constitution and Feds don't specify what is allowed for eminent domain.  Why is that a problem?

« Last Edit: June 13, 2011, 12:28:16 PM by MechAg94 »
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2011, 12:26:35 PM »
Ok, then. Can I get an example of this phenomenon? My experience doesn't match what you are claiming.

I don't have any links for you. My examples are all from people I talk to, and from listening to talk radio. I'm glad your friends are better informed than mine. Maybe that's why I spend more time talking politics here, than locally.
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longeyes

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2011, 07:29:26 PM »
Well, the thing about eminent domain is it all rests on how...eminent you are, doesn't it? =D
"Domari nolo."

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TommyGunn

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2011, 07:31:07 PM »
Well, the thing about eminent domain is it all rests on how...eminent you are, doesn't it? =D
:facepalm:
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longeyes

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #15 on: June 13, 2011, 07:46:33 PM »
Careful, you'll need that head one of these days. =D
"Domari nolo."

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Walt Kowalski: Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me.

Molon Labe.

cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #16 on: June 13, 2011, 07:58:44 PM »
where kelo freaked me out was i could always see that in the case of a road coming through or being widened i could understand eminent domain.  to do some type of development?  not so much.  then i also remember finding out why the beltway in dc has the "roller coaster" in montgomery county as oppossed to the more usual interstate going through prince georges county
« Last Edit: June 14, 2011, 09:19:48 AM by cassandra and sara's daddy »
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TommyGunn

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Re: Well, it IS constitutional...
« Reply #17 on: June 13, 2011, 11:55:03 PM »
Careful, you'll need that head one of these days. =D
  It's a stuntman.  Don't worry. :laugh:
MOLON LABE   "Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of men is greatly perplexed." ~~ Cicero