Talks about Eminent Domain

Efforts are being made to protect private property rights and to prevent government from taking land for economical reasons. The local Tribune had an article called “Eminent domain will be on defensive” displaying the concerns that people have for the ownership of their land. After the Supreme Court left the taking of land up to individual state government, there is a big movement to get protection of property on the 2006 ballot. This group that is coming together to help protect the individual rights of property owners in Colorado first came together after talks of taking land to make toll roads and strip malls. While these things would be nice for a community they are certainly more for public purpose and not public use. Colorado Rep. Al White was quoted as saying
“Eminent domain is completely out of control.”. As Olson’s theory says one key to having a successful economy is to have well defined property rights. If the government is able to take our land for the public purpose we have no solid ownership of our land and this will decrease the demand for ownership. Who wants to buy land just to have it taken away to build a strip mall? Not me. The Supreme Court needs to reread the Constitution and say that public use is NOT public purpose; otherwise we are going against Olson’s theory and headed for a world of hurt.
We can is in Iraq the new economic opportunities they have and the hindrance that they had when the land was taken from them by the government in the past. This has been seen and proven that defining our property rights is key to growth in the economy.