Property rights and morality
Eminent domain is the moral groundwork by which government acquires private property through compulsory purchase. The idea holds that to advance the greater welfare of the public, government must be able to use land and other private goods to which it would not otherwise have access. Its present day use is often associated with new road construction and other development such as housing, entertainment, and shopping centers. It is an idea that is gaining favor in American politics and this exercise of power has been growing fast in recent decades. This is part of a dangerous trend away from the moral framework that has made America successful and free. If you own land you should be concerned about whether one day you may be forced to give it up. Even if you don't own land, think about all the things you could lose if government feels it has the right take. Bureaucrats could wipe your place of work or play or your entire community off the map. The growing faith in eminent domain policies makes this ever more likely. But still, chances remain that you will probably not lose your property anytime soon. Instead it is very likely, and often true right now, that you will live in daily acceptance of the fact that the roads you
The Clinton administration recently added thousands of acres to the already huge federal holdings under park management. Presently the federal government has taken about a fifth of the US, largely in the name of environmentalism. Again we see that where there is no clear owner with a stake in preserving the value of the land, management is poor. You may recall some of the fierce forest fires in recent years. In Yellow Stone and Los Alamos and other sites, hundreds of acres have gone up in smoke. Every one of these fires occurred on national lands. Private owners perform the maintenance necessary to ensure flammable brush does not build up. They know their land is more valuable as lush forest than ashes. Furthermore, it has been documented that logging and mining is conducted far more responsibly on private lands than under National Forest Service supervision. (15) Apparently doing better entails booting families out of their homes and paving the way for an Ikea that will provide greater tax revenue than the present residents. This method of community planning has been catching on at all levels of American government. The number of lawsuits challenging government eminent domain plans has doubled over the last sixty years. By some estimates, the use of eminent domain is now increasing five percent annually. The real growth of this practice is even greater when you consider that in the past, most seizures were for the purpose of constructing military facilities while we were fighting WWII, and later the Cold War. Such explanations are now rare and motivations are more likely to be tax revenue driven. (2) "http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/eminent.shtml" (02/09/01) Not only does the American tradition deny that officials have the right to take from individuals, our strong tradition of property rights is arguably the single greatest engine for growth and progress in history. In It's Getting Better All the Time, author Stephen Moore states after rigorous statistical analysis, "It seems the one fundamental difference that lead to the advance of Europe, and later America, in economic growth and world influence was a tradition of private property."(10) It seems humans work best to develop the land and the economy around them when they know it will not be taken away from them. What they need from government is assurance that thieves will be punished. John Locke was probably the single greatest influence on the framers. He said, "The great and chief end, therefore, of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property."(10) 4) West's Encyclopedia of American Law.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2695
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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