Today marks the 400th article of NFNF, in the same week that the 200,000th reader "tuned in". Over the past three days, I've written again about the abusive use of eminent domain and how it has, and still is, violating the rights and destroying the dreams of so many Americans. Today, I repeat the very first NFNF article, from 5/28/2003.

Is your home your castle?

I knock on the door of your home. When you greet me, I say,

"I'm buying your home from you"
You have 90 days to move out".

What would your reaction be? Would you laugh? Slam the door in my face? If you're the epitome of Minnesota Nice, you might respond...

"It isn't for sale",  and I quickly respond...

"I'm not asking you to sell your home to me...
  I'm telling you that you will".

What would your attitude be at this point?
Shocked? Frightened? Angry? Confused? Speechless?

If you are concerned enough, and persistent, I might explain to you that "we" have decided that your property can be put to better use, a use that will benefit our community... so your home has to go.

I represent your local city/town/county or other governmental unit, and our governing body has decided that your home is "in the way of progress"... so start packing.

Sound like a nightmare?
For those who receive the knock on the door, it is often truly a nightmare of epic proportions, and it happens with great regularity... thousands of times, all across our nation. It's called EMINENT DOMAIN.

It happens to homeowners, apartment dwellers, businesses, churches. Sometimes it happens to whole neighborhoods.

Governmental units have constitutional power to use eminent domain for "public use", but that power has been expanded enormously to include just about anything a city or town council "wants" to do, including taking property, BY FORCE, to provide to other private parties.

Homeowners and businesses who have invested a lot of their energy and money into building "their special place" are unceremoniously evicted, to benefit someone's grand plan... a mall, a giant store, a casino, high-rise condos, etc.

Last month, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that counties can use eminent domain to take land for economic development. A contractor's land is wanted for a Target distribution center. The list of egregious examples is astounding, including this one from Lakewood, Ohio.

Locally, drive to Richfield and gaze upon the Best Buy Headquarters "campus" that forcibly displaced dozens of homeowners and businesses. That area was no blighted slum... it was typical Richfield. Richfield doesn't want to be "typical Richfield"... it wants to be more upscale... more like Edina and Bloomington... and it's going about it with a vengeance.

I happen to live in Richfield, and I've long admired the fact that it was a sort of south-side blue-collar bastion, and THE area that people of modest means could find an affordable place to live. Drive through Richfield and you'll see hundreds of modest homes that are proudly well-cared for by their owners. It's like doing time-travel back into the 50's. Many of my neighbors are immigrants, or poor people who've managed to escape from the inner city. I can see the American Dream in action here... hard-working people trying to build something for themselves.

Richfield is killing those dreams, as are many other communities. Those dreams are being replaced by glorious development projects... bigger businesses, condos for affluent retired people, and boutiques designed to appeal to those with more money.

EMINENT DOMAIN IS FORCE. Is it neccesary? Certainly not.  It's an inexusable use of the force of government. The libertarian position insists that the developer who wants property must CONVINCE the current owners to sell. That's the way free people deal with each other, rather than trying to use the power of government to FORCE others.

Do you think you're immune?... that it only happens to other people? The ugly truth is that is often happens to those least able to challenge the force being threatened... the elderly, the poor, and those businesses who provide some of the less-pretty services we all use.

Eminent domain HAS often been successfully challenged in court, but very often victims are intimidated into selling... afraid that if they don't take what's offered, the property will be taken anyway, and at a lower price.

If you want to help combat eminent domain abuse, check out the Castle Coalition from the libertarian Institute for Justice. I urge you to become a member... before some nanny thinks YOUR home would be a good space for a big store.