Why is eminent domain legal?
Answers:
Governments have a responsibility to provided services for the people.
Let's say you want to build an overpass, sometimes existing structures have to be removed. There is always someone who will not sell. The idea is that if you refuse to sell your land to the govenment, they will offer you more money.
But where does this money come from? The tax payer. So someone who owns a $200K dollar house won't sell because they want a million. Is it right to use tax payer dollars to bribe someone?
Or maybe we could just not build the overpass. Is it right to let dangerous traffic condions (which will result in pollution and loss of life) fester because someone is greedy?
What about property owners who can't be found. Someone owns a parcel and than vanishes off the face of the earth. How long to the people need to be kept waiting for progress. Shouldn't a landowner take enough interest in his property to at least have a contact number?
On the surface it seems hars. But most of these cases are not little old ladies getting kicked out of thier homes. Most of these cases are with absent owners who are drowning in tax leins and the land is an eyesore.
Eminent Domain is kind of like the nuclear option for redevelopment. It is rarly used and always the last option. The papers never report it fairly, they alway make the Gov out to be the bad guy. The never talk about the greed or the negelence of the property owner.
all for the greater good is what they say
Because we elect crooks to office.
It is a leftover law from the days when USA was expanding the frontier and needed to build railroads and highways to establish an internal infrastructure with the western cities
The Constitution allows the government to take the property of it's citizens, but requires that "just compensation" be paid. Eminent domain may be overused recently, but the concept isn't necessarily a bad one. For example, the exercise of eminent domain was necessary to create the infrastructure we have today of railroads, interstate highways, and power lines. One of the policy reasons justifying it is that the taking of one person or entity's property and paying them the fair market value in exchange for the benefit conferred upon the community represents an overall benefit. This theory is stood on it's head when eminent domain is used to benefit one or a small few, or when the compensation isn't truly fair. Individual states may limit the exercise of eminent domain as they wish, and many states are in the process of doing so.
There is some question about the government seizing property for the greater good. It seems that politics have entered into eminent domain seizures. Properties have been seized for commercial establishments which to my way of thinking, is a clear violation of the spirit of eminent domain, especially when the commercial entity has been known to give campaign contributions to the politicians who seek the seizures.
It is a historical power of governments. Two thousand years ago, the local king owned all the lands and those who lived there were mere tenants and the king could take the land and give it to another. That broad power has lessened considerably, but the basic notion that the government controlls and allocates the land has not changed.
yeah stop voting for the party that put the majority of the judges that allowed this on the bench! do you know which party I'm talking about?
It's legal because allow it to be and let the politicians do what they want. We the people, are suppose to tell them what to do but apathy has set in and we let others think for us. We should make laws against it before it's too late. We should also change the laws so that judges can't do what they want without repercussions.
I suppose you could ammend the costitution for the 28th time. But that's tough to do.
because people let it happen. There is a good reason why our founding wrote the 2nd Amendment.
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