US Eminent Domain expanded

A small Hollywood business looks set to be one of the first victims of a US Supreme Court decision that expands upon eminent domain law. David Mach, the son of the family, says that they received several requests to sell the property, but they can’t refuse the latest one because the City of Hollywood is confiscating the property outright. Eminent domain allows the government to confiscate property in the name of the public good (and now, private profit) against the will of the owner, and compensate that owner (effectively) as they see fit.

The simple fact is that to a person who does not want to sell, every price is too low. Eminent domain laws are a flagrant disregard of property rights and represent massive and intrusive State power. While eminent domain is in effect, nobody can own anything - we merely lease it from the government, who reserves the right to take it back at any time. Eminent domain is typically invoked in the name of the public good and social benefit. However, it can’t be in the good of everyone, since the people expropriated are not benefitting at all. So it is in the interests of “less than everyone”, and when you consider how many people won’t use or enjoy whatever the law is being used to build, the people who actually benefit dwindle rapidly to a mere few.

What eminent domain becomes, then, is government intervention to forcibly expropriate some individuals, and to give to other individuals. Free will is irrevelant and property rights are irrelevant. There can be no real freedom where government reserves the right to confiscate privately held property - what is to stop them confiscating all printing presses and broadcast stations that don’t have a government-friendly view in the name of the public good? In this regard, there’s really little distinction between government and organized crime.