What were they thinking???

The Supreme Court in it's infinite wisdom today decided local governments may now take property from individuals so corporations may use the property. Stop and think about that a minute. The Supremes say it is okay for your local municipality or county to take your home and give it to a developer so he can put in a shopping mall or high dollar real estate development. It scares the bejeebers out of me.

John Paul Stevens, wrote the majority opinion and said that it is in the best interest of local government to develop property for the benefit of the community. In other words, "the ends justifies the means". Gee, isn't that what Karl Marx wrote about a hundred years ago?

I exaggerate to a certain extent, but no one is safe in their property. Let's say Mega Corp wants to build multi-million dollar condos and that my piece of property stands in their way. Not a problem, the city condemns my home and property and hands it over to the developer and they make big bucks. But, what about me? Not a problem because the Supreme court says it's all OK! It's now the "law of the land".

The minority opinion was written by Sandra Day O'Connor. O'Connor criticized the majority for "abandoning the conservative principle of individual property rights and handing 'disproportionate influence and power' to the well-heeled." She also wrote..."Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result. "(T)hat alone is a just government," wrote James Madison, "which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own."'

In what may be a silver lining though, the Supreme Court left open the option for states to restrict local municipalities in what they may do in the taking of private property. Let's hope the state legislatures show more wisdom than Justice Stevens.