Amend the Constitution But Hold the Mayo
Stephen Macklin at Hold the Mayo is on his 4th revision of a proposed Constitutional amendment with the aim of ending eminent domain abuse. I also sent him my proposed amendment for consideration. He has been discussing the merits of the various elements which should or should not be included in the amendment. There are some good discussions on this issue so why not go on over, order yourself a big hoagie and say ‘hold the mayo.’ Could I also get some chili cheese fries and a large cherry Dr. Pepper with that?
posted by Stephen Littau at 1:11 PM
2 Comments:
Your proposed amendment has the best of intentions, but here's how government can pervert its meaning:
"Oh, but nobody's taking any property! We're merely...facilitating and encouraging an actual sale of the property. And besides, it's a necessary function of government to, uh, promote the local economy. Yeah, that's it!"
(Remember that even Scalia, grasping at straws, had to invoke "necessary and proper" in the marijuana ruling. Notwithstanding marijuana was a red herring, "necessary and proper" is the ultimate excuse.)
"Hey, Jim, I know a property assessment fella who'll cut us a break. That property is worth $200,000 and I'm sure we can get him to assess it at $75,000, maybe $80,000 tops. How much can condemned property be worth, anyway?"
No matter what laws we pass, elected officials will find ways to distort them. The solution isn't to amend the Constitution. The solution is to enforce the language that the Supreme Court evidently can't understand. How can any intelligent person misread "public use"?
You guys should check out The Bill of Rights - Pig style.
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