MuD & PHuD

What the hell is going on in this country? The 9 Dictators in Black just decided that your private property is yours right up until your "local officials" decide they want it:

WASHINGTON -- A divided Supreme Court ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth conflicts with individual property rights.

Thursday's 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.

Local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community, justices said.

How much crap are we willing to take from our 'betters' in the government? Hum? How many more insults to our (once) inalienable rights must we endure before we have had enough?

I've heard many a gun owner say, "You'll know I'm dead when they've taken my guns." It's a great line, sure. But how many people would actually hold that line when they come for your gun (as far as I can tell, no one in NYC)?

How about when armed government agents come for you house? My first reaction to this is to say, "Oh yeah? Come and take it you bastards! I've got 600 rounds of ammo here, so which ever of you is number 601 has a decent shot at getting in here!" But would I? Would I sacrifice my career, my freedom and my very life in order to hold on to my house? While the noble part of me wants to say yes, the honest side is not so sure. Why?

I think the problem is that freedoms are taken away in small portions. No government (in this country) is going to say: Give us your guns, house, money...eh, and how about every last vestige of your freedom while you're at it. They just take your house, and certainly a mere piece of property is not worth dying over...right?

What does happen, is that Congress says: Assault weapons are dangerous and no one really needs them anyway, so we're going to outlaw them. The President signs it, the 9 Dictators in black give it the thumbs up and the 2nd amendment is null and void.

Then Congress passes the misleadingly-named Campaign Finance Reform Bill. It tells me that I cannot speak freely, but only X number of days out from an election. Then the President signs it and the 9 Dictators in Black give it the thumbs up. Result: The 1st amendment is null and void.

Now, without even the prefunction of Congressional and Executive action, the 9 Dictators in Black have told me that the government can take my private property and give it to someone else. In essence they have 'reinterpreted' the final clause of the 5th amendment: nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation so that now "public use" means "increase the tax base by taking my private property and giving it to another". Amazing powers of reinterpretation these dictators have, no?

So the question remains: How long do I, as a citizen of the United States of America, continue to endure these assaults against my freedom? At what point do these insults finally add up to the modern day equivalent of the Intolerable Acts? Do I have the courage to make a stand?

The question we must each answer in our heart of hearts is: When they come for my house/gun/speech, will I roll over and take it, or will I draw a line in the sand?
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