Milk carton picture: Liberty
Liberty is missing from America.
With the perhaps most egregious mis-ruling since ... possibly ever, the United States Supreme Court has declared the U.S. Constitution null and void.
Probably the single leading reason our ancestors came to these shores was the right to own property.
We say "the right to own property." What other culture, what other nation has ever been founded on such a premise?
"Own" property. What a glorious concept.
All that was done away with Thursday, 23 June 2005, in the case of Kelo et al v. City of New London, 04-108, by five mis-called "justices" who obviously have not the slightest idea of what makes a free country, what makes a free people.
Writing the minority opinion, Sandra Day O'Connor expressed horror, according to news reports, that the majority has merely empowered rich people, that moneyed developers will be able to use their power -- and in politics more than anywhere else, apparently, money IS power -- to acquire other people's property and make even more money.
Surprisingly, O'Connor is right, but, unsurprisingly, she focuses on only a tiny part of the problem: The real horror is that individual humans and their rights are not even mentioned, are not even considered.
One of the houses being stolen -- and that is not too strong a word, no matter how much money the thieves eventually pay for the object being taken -- belongs to a couple in their 80s. They have lived in their home for some 50 years, yet now discover they never really OWNED it. They were allowed the privilege of paying the mortgage, of spending their money on upkeep, of paying the taxes, but they have never really OWNED the property -- they were merely allowed to live there by the kind benevolence of the local politicians and bureaucrats.
That benevolence ends when some rich developer sees a method to become richer, by booting the residents out of their homes and destroying their homes and replacing their homes with something -- offices in this case -- that will bring in more money to the tax coffers of the local government.
Five members of the Supreme Court -- and I cannot call them "justices" -- have denied the history and tradition of the United States of America; they have denied the basic premise and very concept of human liberty.
They have, in the words of Henry Clay and repeated by Abraham Lincoln, blown out the moral lights around us; they have penetrated the human soul and eradicated there the love of liberty.
With the perhaps most egregious mis-ruling since ... possibly ever, the United States Supreme Court has declared the U.S. Constitution null and void.
Probably the single leading reason our ancestors came to these shores was the right to own property.
We say "the right to own property." What other culture, what other nation has ever been founded on such a premise?
"Own" property. What a glorious concept.
All that was done away with Thursday, 23 June 2005, in the case of Kelo et al v. City of New London, 04-108, by five mis-called "justices" who obviously have not the slightest idea of what makes a free country, what makes a free people.
Writing the minority opinion, Sandra Day O'Connor expressed horror, according to news reports, that the majority has merely empowered rich people, that moneyed developers will be able to use their power -- and in politics more than anywhere else, apparently, money IS power -- to acquire other people's property and make even more money.
Surprisingly, O'Connor is right, but, unsurprisingly, she focuses on only a tiny part of the problem: The real horror is that individual humans and their rights are not even mentioned, are not even considered.
One of the houses being stolen -- and that is not too strong a word, no matter how much money the thieves eventually pay for the object being taken -- belongs to a couple in their 80s. They have lived in their home for some 50 years, yet now discover they never really OWNED it. They were allowed the privilege of paying the mortgage, of spending their money on upkeep, of paying the taxes, but they have never really OWNED the property -- they were merely allowed to live there by the kind benevolence of the local politicians and bureaucrats.
That benevolence ends when some rich developer sees a method to become richer, by booting the residents out of their homes and destroying their homes and replacing their homes with something -- offices in this case -- that will bring in more money to the tax coffers of the local government.
Five members of the Supreme Court -- and I cannot call them "justices" -- have denied the history and tradition of the United States of America; they have denied the basic premise and very concept of human liberty.
They have, in the words of Henry Clay and repeated by Abraham Lincoln, blown out the moral lights around us; they have penetrated the human soul and eradicated there the love of liberty.
posted by Michael Morrison @ 2:12:00 AM
1 Comments:
At 10:23 PM,
Aussiegirl said…
Great to see you are blogging up a storm. Yes - we both used the milk carton reference -- You are right on here -- absolutely correct -- how tragic a miscarriage of justice. We are now only leaseholders on our "property" a lease which the government can cancel at any time. We do not really "own" our property anymore. Frankly, I've even been agains the extension of these "taking rights" for the purpose of razing urban blight. If areas are blighted, then normal commercial development will eventually solve the problem. Areas become desirable, people and companies move in and start renovating. It's happened in inner cities all over America. But now -- they've completely eviscerated the foundation of our free society.
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