Property rights and morality essays

Property rights and morality essays Eminent domain is the moral groundwork by which government acquires private property through compulsory purchase. The idea holds that to advance the greater welfare of the public, government must be able to use land and other private goods to which it would not otherwise have access. Its present day use is often associated with new road construction and other development such as housing, entertainment, and shopping centers. It is an idea that is gaining favor in American politics and this exercise of power has been growing fast in recent decades. This is part of a dangerous trend away from the moral framework that has made America successful and free. If you own land you should be concerned about whether one day you may be forced to give it up. Even if you don't own land, think about all the things you could lose if government feels it has the right take. Bureaucrats could wipe your place of work or play or your entire community off the map. The growing faith in eminent domain policies makes this ever more likely. But still, chances remain that you will probably not lose your property anytime soon. Instead it is very likely, and often true right now, that you will live in daily acceptance of the fact that the roads you drive on, the complex you work in, or the stadium in which you watch the home team were made possible by taking from another through force. Consider what happened when the Texas Rangers needed more space around their ballpark. After failing to secure the surrounding land for well below market value, the local government used its powers of eminent domain to condemn the land, later turning it over, at no cost, to the Rangers for development. The Rangers were then under the ownership of our present president. (5) Remember also how ready and willing Philadelphia's mayor Street was to tear down a Chinese-American neighborhood in South Philly for the purpose of a new baseball stadium. (8) Mayor Tom Murphy of...