Tossing Veterans into the Street

The city of Carteret, New Jersey is about to throw World War II veteran Johnnie Stevens out of the home where he and his wife have lived for nearly a decade. The city wants to turn the land over to a developer so it can be used for a luxury townhouse development. Result: More tax income for insatiable politicians. Given less than two years to live because of lung cancer, Stevens hoped that he would not be pushed out by the borough's efforts to redevelop the run-down neighborhood. Stevens is a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Bronze Star as a member of the 761st Tank Battalion. The Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London this year struck down one of our most important rights -- the right to own land. Under the ruling -- passed by a majority of freedom-loving liberals on the court -- a government can now seize land from a private citizen and turn it over to another private citizen if the land can be developed to bring in more taxes. This is why we need conservative judges at every level of government -- most importantly on the Supreme Court. This issue affects EVERYONE. Being a liberal won't help you when the bulldozers roll up to your front door. For more examples of how governments are abusing eminent domain, go here.

"When the Supreme Court ruled, in the New London case, that it was okay to take someone's home, no matter how long it had been in their family, no matter what's it's value to them, if the local government believed that the ground upon which it stood would be better for business, I was floored. I really didn't think something like that would happen in America. If there is anything we own, it's our home. We sink or swim with it, but it's ours. So now, if a developer is really in with the municipal or local government and says, I really need this space for my strip mall and look at how much money in retail tax it will bring the city, you could be done for. I'm not one to make a lot of racial assumptions, but I don't doubt that this would be particularly troublesome for poor and black neighborhoods....People in these neighborhoods are already seen as prey to some business developers. Why would the Supreme Court help them? This is why we have a system of checks and balances, which hasn't been too much on display in recent years. So, the House has passed legislation making it harder for local governments to rip your homes from your arms. Even for those local governments that will try to go through with it, let's hope that the local media makes it as public as possible, so others who aren't aware of this law will continue to be outraged. I haven't met one person; black or white, rich or poor who thinks this is a good idea." — Angela Winters, moderate blogger, on private property ownership