6/23/2005
SUPREME LETDOWN: The Supreme Court is at it with another 5-4 decision determined by Justice Anthony Kennedy siding with the four liberal justices. This time, you're house is no longer safe.
Look, I understand the idea of eminent domain. The social utility of building a highway to serve society certainly outweighs the social utility of the strips of farmland that would replace it. However, I doubt that the founding fathers envisioned a town destroying lower-class homes to make room for an IKEA. When people cannot feel secure in their investment in their home, more social utility is lost than any highway (or IKEA or Trump casino) could yield.
Of course, you'll never see eminent domain used to bulldoze middle-class houses in, say, the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia. It'll only be used on those inconveniently located houses owned by lower-class people.
Look, I understand the idea of eminent domain. The social utility of building a highway to serve society certainly outweighs the social utility of the strips of farmland that would replace it. However, I doubt that the founding fathers envisioned a town destroying lower-class homes to make room for an IKEA. When people cannot feel secure in their investment in their home, more social utility is lost than any highway (or IKEA or Trump casino) could yield.
Of course, you'll never see eminent domain used to bulldoze middle-class houses in, say, the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia. It'll only be used on those inconveniently located houses owned by lower-class people.
# posted by Anonymous @ 6/23/2005 11:41:00 PM 
