What's yours is yours, because thou shall not steal, right? Well, not exactly. At least if government is the perp, that is not always the case. For those of you who have not heard the term "eminent domain", it means that your private property, your house, camp, whatever--are all truly owned by the state and that if need be, they can be repossessed by the state for sale or destruction in times of extreme necessity or if the central planners determine that the repossessing of your property is ultimately for the public good (some states use the term "appropriation").
Let me give you an example. You have just received a notice from the government that your current home in which you were born and raised is going to be demolished in order to build a new strip mall. You are reassured that you will be refunded the market value of your house and are given six months to pack up and move out. However, to many, houses are more than just objects like a TV or computer, a house often has sentiment attached to it and now the government is offering you some price based on property value to get you out on their schedule.
But wait! That's my house! I paid for it!
No, no, silly, you only think you own it, but the reality is, the state of New York owns your four bedroom, two and a half bathroom paradise, not you. Plus think of all of the nice tax-money we'll get to make now from all of the incoming businesses! Plus, all of the new stores in the strip mall will create jobs, and if it expands maybe even could lower property taxes in the town because of all the revenue we make! This will help everyone!
This type of nonsense does happen, like in the town of New London, Connecticut, where a host of houses in a neighborhood were demolished against the will of the landowners in order to build a new Pfizer plant (what a surprise, a drug company with political pull). But here's the kicker, after the houses were demolished, the big shots at Pfizer decided they didn't want to build a plant there anymore, oops. This is another example of government failure, businesses are going to want to expand, and any type of handout from the government that they can get, they will take, in this case Pfizer was getting the land for free and huge tax abatements.
Government agencies, particularly the ones steered by the radical environmentalists, also are guilty of abusing eminent domain and disregarding property rights. In January, the EPA declared that the air quality of Matagorda county in Texas was sub-par and that the must halt new business and construction until the air-quality reaches a level that the EPA deems acceptable. All this, despite the fact that the agency in charge of environmental protection of Texas disagrees, citing a decline in both population and emissions in recent years, however the people of the county are at the mercy of the bureaucrats in Washington of the EPA and are unable to pursue business ventures or new construction until the county emission standards raise (I have a lot more to say about the EPA, they will get their own post).
A free society should never have property rights infringed upon, and is a staple if the people of the United States are to retain the freedoms granted by The Constitution. Thankfully, a bi-partisan bill was introduced last year "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2011" to help protect the liberties guaranteed to Americans under The Constitution.
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