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August 6, 2007
Eminent Domain: a Question of Morality
The NY Times, Letter to the Editor
Like bank robbers who maintain crowbars and guns as tools for stealing money, governments maintain eminent domain as a tool for stealing people’s homes and businesses.
The first act of theft will get you thrown in jail. The second (taking property by eminent domain) will get you property for nothing, tax abatements, exemptions and deferments plus development funds.
Government was instituted to secure the rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and property (without which no other right can be secured). Taking homes and businesses from their rightful owners, then conveying them to those who are not, is a notorious example of how government has become the most blatant violator of these rights.
Using eminent domain, government aids and abets theft and should be morally condemned. So should those who benefit from eminent domain.
Joe Wright
Staten Island
Posted by lumi at August 6, 2007 7:21 AM