This evening, I attended an event sponsored in part by the John Locke Foundation. It was called “Don’t Kelo My House!” It’s a refence to the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo vs. New London. In this ruling, the United States Supreme Court said that the Constitution did not protect homeowners from having their homes taken by the government so that it could be used as a money making enterprise — a money making enterprise for the government, that is. So if the government could make more by selling your home to McDonald’s or by building a parking lot, more power to them. This is the ruling that confirmed for me that America is now in the throes of tyranny. If you can’t tell what’s wrong with something that you’ve worked your whole life for being taken so the government can build *ANOTHER* mini-mall, you’re a retard, and it’s a wonder you can even read these words. But as one last chance for redemption, you should check out the Flash animation, the Philosophy of Liberty. It has a lot of pictures and some trippy music, so it should be easy to follow.

The speakers were Ellis Hankins of the ultra-powerful League of Municipalities and former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr. Justice Orr was one of the few Republicans that I ever felt good voting for, and he was taking the side against eminent domain, so I was a little biased. Of course, ninety-nine percent of the people in attendance were against this decision, so it was one of the rare moments that I’ve been in the majority on anything.

The best part of the evening was when a plain-spoken guy with a distinctly Carolinian accent came up to the microphone during the question-and-answer session. His name was JH Ross. He talked about how he had previously had a long law-enforcement career, so he knew outright theft when he saw it. Then, he told the League of Municipalities attorney that the people who do this should be punished. This was his segue into his candidacy for the NC State House. I thought he was kind of soft on the subject, though. Since the Republic has devolved into a Democracy, the only natural thing would have been to have the ninety-nine percent beat up on the one percent. You know — majority rules. But this isn’t a post about democracy really being mob rule. It’s a post about how a select few try to impose their evil will upon others.

The other really good part of the presentation was the food. It was a free event and the food was to die for. It was all you can eat cheese, meatballs and chicken fingers. I think that there was also a cash bar in case you wanted to get really ripped and threaten the speakers, but I didn’t take part, since I don’t carry cash.

The truly low point of the evening was when the League of Municipalities representative was asked to legally define the term ‘blight’. According to his answer, a blighted neighborhood is one where at least two-thirds of the buildings were run-down, there was a lot a crime and was a neighborhood where people didn’t want to go. He ended his rambling response by saying, “You know the ones.” Obviously this was secret bureaucrat language to describe a neighborhood like the one I live in — where the majority of its residents are poor and black. It’s good that he made the sentiments of the eminent domain folks open, but it sucked that he wasn’t brave enough to actually say it outside of a thinly veiled euphamism.

For me, this evening was just another example of how governments hurt all citizens, especially those who are most in need. Eminent domain, while claimed to be for the common good, creates the one problem that all common-good-initiatives share — it helps those who make the decisions, while harming those who don’t.