United Liberty
Private Property
Let’s Cultivate OUR Own Garden
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 11:25am | posted by Brett Bittner
If you follow eminent domain cases at all, you are likely to recognize the name Suzette Kelo. She sued the City of New London, Connecticut for their misuse of the power of eminent domain, as they condemned her property and the property of her neighbors to allow Pfizer to build a research facility. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court and resulted in a gross violation of property rights nationwide, as the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, found that the positive impact of the facility in terms of jobs and tax revenues would benefit the community of New London qualified as “public use” as outlined by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Last month, four years after the decision, Pfizer pulled out of the project, leaving New London with an empty lot generating next to no tax revenue after displacing Ms. Kelo and her neighbors.
Remembering Kelo
Tue, 06/23/2009 - 10:02am | posted by Jason Pye
On June 23, 2005, the United State Supreme Court dealt a fatal blow to private property rights with the decision issued in Kelo v. New London. 
This landmark ruling allows state and local governments to use the previously redefined meaning of “public use” from the Fifth Amendment (also known as the Takings Clause) to use eminent domain to essentially steal property from one private entity and transfer it to another.
Home Rule: Back-Door Eminent Domain Abuse
Mon, 04/27/2009 - 6:35am | posted by United Liberty Guest
By: Dr. David Beito
What is happening in the cradle of the modern civil rights movement? Jimmy McCall would like to know. ‘It was more my dream house,’ he laments, ‘and the city tore it down … It reminds me of how they used to mistreat black people in the Old South.’ In 1955, Rosa Parks took on the whole system of Jim Crow by refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus. Today, McCall is waging a lonely battle against the same city government for another civil right: the freedom to build a home on his own land.
Two polls show Americans don’t trust government with liberties or money
Sat, 02/27/2010 - 10:48am | posted by Jason Pye
CNN is out with a new poll that shows Americans don’t trust the government when it comes to safeguarding their rights, and rightfully so:
A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government’s become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.
The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.
Some would say that this is paranoia, but it’s not. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a dismantling of the Bill of Rights through restrictions on speech, attempted restrictions on the Second Amendment (Heller was a rare victory), a running over of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, which guarantees the right to privacy, due process and private property. There is also no protection of economic liberty by government anymore.
Eminent domain abuse still rampant
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 3:23pm | posted by Jason Pye
In the almost five years after the Kelo decision, which effectively gutted the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, local governments are still running over the property rights of their citizens:
H/T: Club for Growth
Heritage Foundation releases 2010 Index of Economic Freedom
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 2:27pm | posted by Jason Pye
The Heritage Foundation has released the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom,which measures the various different types of fiscal and economic freedoms (such as business freedom, fiscal freedom, free trade and property rights) in 138 countries.
Here is a look at the top 10 most free economies in the word:
Notice how far down the United States is on the list. Unfortunately, our country’s score dropped from last year due to the government’s response to the 2008 economic crisis. As you can see below, scores dropped in seven out of 10 areas from the previous year.
Even though scores dropped in several areas, the main concerns (in my opinion) are government spending, fiscal freedom and monetary freedom.
On government spending:
Property rights are dead in New York
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 12:39pm | posted by Jason Pye
The New York Court of Appeals ruled against a group of home and business owners yesterday who had sued to prevent a developer from working with political leaders in New York City to take private property to build a new arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team:
After enduring three years of delays, several lawsuits and the collapse of the real estate market, the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn took a major step forward on Tuesday when New York’s highest court ruled that the state can seize private property for the 22-acre development.
The Court of Appeals ruled 6 to 1 that the state could exercise eminent domain in claiming businesses, public property and private homes for economic development projects like Atlantic Yards. In doing so, the court backed the state’s assessment that the area in question — where some holdouts had refused to sell their property — fit the legal definition of being blighted.
The ruling also had broader implications — reaffirming New York’s use of eminent domain even as many state legislatures are seeking to curb government’s power to condemn private property.
The project’s opponents had argued that eminent domain on behalf of the private developer, Bruce C. Ratner, was improper and unconstitutional. They vowed to continue their battle, but there was no question that the cloud of uncertainty that has been hanging over Atlantic Yards for more than a year had been lifted.
Happy Earth Day
Fri, 04/24/2009 - 1:36am | posted by Matt Wittlief
It should not be terribly surprising that Earth Day was first established by a U.S. politician. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) was the driving force behind the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. I suppose I’m not terribly surprised that the government maintains an official Earth Day website at EarthDay.gov - from the site:
The Housing Bubble and the Environment: Unintended Consequences
Tue, 03/17/2009 - 6:37am | posted by Dr. Charles Kennedy
An article in the Sunday, March 15 edition of The Birmingham News, entitled “Lots crumble and mud flows”, discusses some of the complications resulting from the plethora of unfinished housing projects that have been put on hold in the current economic crisis. The problems include excessive runoff and mud flows, crumbling roads without a final seal coat, empty houses in various stages of construction, construction debris posing safety hazards, and other various forms of pollution. Curiously, nowhere in the article does its author acknowledge that most of these housing construction projects are the result of a housing bubble.
Vehicle Mileage Tax: Dead for Now, but Part of a Future Trend?
Sun, 02/22/2009 - 7:58am | posted by Dr. Charles Kennedy
According to an Associated Press report on Friday, President Obama has rejected the recommendation of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (who, by the way, is a Republican) to consider seeking a vehicle miles-traveled (VMT) tax as a replacement for the federal gasoline tax. A VMT tax would be levied based on the number of miles driven per vehicle, as opposed to the amount of gasoline purchased. A number of factors are said to be behind such an idea. According to the AP report:
Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation’s transportation system moving, LaHood told the AP.
