For example, ‘Kelo’ is practically a swear word for us. Taking land for public use is bad enough, albeit explicitly permitted by the Constitution; taking land and giving it to a real estate developer is downright odious. It’s not the biggest conservative/libertarian issue out there, but it’s definitely one that most people involved in the VRWC have an opinion on.
I bring all of this up because Hot Air had Senator Marco Rubio over to do a guest column*:
Though it may not make headlines as often as other issues, the fundamental right to private property has been under assault for years through our government’s abuses of eminent domain. Eminent domain is the authority vested in government to force the sale of private property. While this authority can be a necessary evil in rare cases related to public development, such as the building of crucial infrastructure, its modern use far exceeds this limitation. Today, it is often wielded by crony capitalist politicians to benefit wealthy and powerful private developers.
…and that’s the closest that the article comes to a reference to Donald Trump, who is arguably both of these things, these days. I’m not going to sugar-coat this for people: I have been yelling about eminent domain abuse for years. And I said that this was going to be a problem for Trump back in July. And I wasn’t joking when I called it an indigestible lump, either: I would no more support using eminent domain as a tool for crony commercial development than I would support Obamacare, or gun confiscation schemes.
Moe Lane
*Based on Hot Air’s increasingly-unreadable comments section, this will undoubtedly come up; Salem Communications owns both Hot Air and RedState. It doesn’t own this site, but my relationship with Salem is no secret.
Not to mention the ever popular ” Regulatory Taking ” : to so constrain the economic value of one’s property with regulation that all that is left is the title and the tax bill
You Establishment hack. How long has it been since Salem bought your soul? Why do you want Jeb! to win?!? Blargh!
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/sarc
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In fairness their, and other’s, constant deathwatch over Trump can get tedious. Good on Rubio for calling him out on principle though. More of that. Less “reality”-TV OMG hype.
Sure, it’s an indigestible lump.
So is Jeb’s stance on open borders and Common Core.
So is Kasich’s stance on Obamacare and Planned Parenthood.
So is Rubio’s stance on open borders.
So is Carson’s on guns.
So is Graham’s stance on virtually anything.
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Hey, I’d love to see the primary slate limited to Cruz and Jindal. You want to toss “not a true conservative”s out if the race, I’ll happily support you.
But the purge starts with Jeb.
I don’t read the comments on any site that I am not permitted to post comments on. HOT AIR has closed comments, so I just don’t bother to read them.