States Should Protect Private Property from Eminent Domain for Business use
Joe Simpson and his wife have lived in their home for 55 years. They had their children here, they raised them here, they farmed here and they now enjoy the golden years. The house is paid off and they have settled in for the rest of their lives. This will all be disrupted however because an out of state business group wants to build a manufacturing plant on their property. Simpson doesn't know if he can fight it. He has heard about eminent domain laws in the past. Something about the good of the whole outweigh the good of the person and he thinks he is going to have to give up the only place he has ever lived. His father built the house before Joe was even born but the state doesn't care. It only wants his land and is willing to bulldoze the handcrafted home that his daddy built to get it. Eminent domain laws allow governments to seize land whether or not the owner wants to part with it. While the law clearly mandates the government pay the land owner more than the current market value for the home, it has a legislated right to force that sale without regard to the owner's feelings. While the good of the whole makes sense in theory, the forcing of the sale of land goes against everything the constitution stands fo
"Mr. Borut disputes the idea that the Supreme Court ruling "changed anything" with the Kelo decision, saying, "it was not a matter of giving anyone new authority or new power." Instead, he says, the high court upheld the constitutionality of condemnation practices that governments have used as a "last resort" to create jobs and "enhance the overall good of a community(Price, Joyce. Drawing the line on eminent domain; States rush to counter court ruling. The Washington Times; 10/9/2005)." r. It is important to uphold the constitution in every instance for every person regardless of the hardships it may cause government agencies. The states should be duty bound to protect private property in all instances. "Jim Seelbach, 83, lives in a suburb of St. Louis and he is about to lose his home of 20 years. The city wants it to make way for a shopping center. This will give property owners the right to stop businesses from determining their futures. If the business wants the land enough the business will have to meet a selling price that the property owner will agree to. If that means paying 10 times what the land is worth then so be it. The property owner has the right not to sell. Unfortunately most of the properties that are impacted by eminent domain are not large expensive homes. They are the wood framed homes of yesteryear in which the owners do not often have money to hire attorneys' to fight the decisions to displace them(Price, Joyce. Drawing the line on eminent domain; States rush to counter court ruling. The Washington Times; 10/9/2005).
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Approximate Word count = 1406
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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