[lbo-talk] When is private property NOT?

[Jim Devine]

> I guess I think it's sort of odd to see leftists
> rising in defense of private propertyt rights here. I
> think the right wing reaction, typified by a letter in
> today's Chicago Trib that calls the S.Ct decision
> decision "socialistic," is more accurate.
> 
> The power of eminent domain is supported by the
> principle that private property rights are not
> absolute or natural, that all property rights are
> ultimately conditional grants from the sovereign (in
> the old days, the King, today the people) permitted on
> the notion that these rights will be used in ways that
> are beneficial to the public. 

the problem, of course, is that the people are sovereign in theory,
but not in practice (at least in the US). That's why I like the idea
of requiring some sort of referendum process. But that's a topic for
another thread.
-- 
Jim Devine
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let
people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.