Submitted by David M. Brown, Aug 7, 2007 17:58

A commenter suggests, "Local citizens should determine whether eminent domain is used in their communties, not Congress." That would be fine if the local property-owning citizen were able to say "No, you may not use eminent domain against my home or store" and that were the end of it. Obviously property owning citizens aren "able to determine whether eminent domain is used" against them. Of course there may be a local gang in any town that doesn't want a particular property owner to hold onto stuff that is his by right. And this gang may have political connections. It's these local looters who typically decide to rob a person of his property. There may be a few rare and genuine emergencies justifying a "taking" without the consent of the owner, but at present such takings occur whenever the local hooligans decide to take. The sooner these rampant abuses of power are sweepingly and definitively thwarted, the better. Now if only McCain, the co-author of McCain-Feingold restrictions on freedom of speech, would support an amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech.

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