From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Thu Jun 30 2005 - 17:51:53 BST
arlo:
Well, who's taking away the freedoms, Platt? Some Marxist "liberal"
who advocates being able to say there are more important things than
rampant wealth acquisition? Or the wealth-at-any-cost corporations
who have now petitioned for the right to take your property so that
they can increase their revenue?
On 30 Jun 2005 at 10:19, Platt Holden wrote:
I hate to correct you, but it wasn't corporations who petitioned for
the right to take your property and your freedom. It was local
governments in order to increase their tax base, and the courts who
gave local governments permission to do so.
msh:
This is a classic example of focusing on the "shadow cast by big
business," rather than the shadow-caster itself. A little research
easily reveals the ever-present incestuous relationship between
government and private wealth. Here's a brief summary of the origin
of this case:
"In 1998, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer built a plant next to Fort
Trumbull and the City determined that someone else could make better
use of the land than the Fort Trumbull residents. The City handed
over its power of eminent domain—the ability to take private property
for public use—to the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), a
private body, to take the entire neighborhood for private
development. As the Fort Trumbull neighbors found out, when private
entities wield government’s awesome power of eminent domain and can
justify taking property with the nebulous claim of 'economic
development,' all homeowners are in trouble.
http://www.ij.org/private_property/connecticut/
Here's more...
"The controversy began in 1998 when pharmaceutical giant Pfizer built
a plant next door to the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. Shortly
thereafter, the City and its ally, the NLDC, determined that someone
else could, in their opinion, make better use of the land than the
existing home and business owners in Fort Trumbull. So the government
and the NLDC began to condemn these properties and kick out the
owners. The new development will supposedly enhance the new Pfizer
facility. In fact, in December 2000, Pfizer guaranteed a $2 million
dollar line of credit for use as working capital by the NLDC."
http://www.ij.org/private_property/connecticut/12_20_00pr.html
msh:
Please note the last sentence above: "...Pfizer guaranteed a $2
million dollar line of credit for use as working capital by the
NLDC."
The point Arlo and I have tried to make regarding political
philosophy is that a simplistic clinging to the red-herring false-
dichotomy of "Liberals" vs. "Conservative" is a sure way to halt
meaningful discussion. Today, particularly in the US, politics is
about wealth, which means power, which means accumulation of more
wealth. To call the Supreme Court's decision a "liberal" decision,
to blame it on "the liberals," is to engage in regressive fantasy.
I will be happy to pursue this line of reasoning, and to show the
connection to the MOQ and the Moral Society. All I ask is that
divergent opinions be supported by evidence and argument.
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
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