> Curbing the abuse of eminent domain isn't necessarily a right-wing
> effort, and it has been undertaken in both Democratic and Republican
> strongholds -- see the list below:
[...]
> Kelo v. New London was an unjust decision that gave bad name to eminent
> domain, and now a backlash against eminent domain is on. If liberals and
> leftists don't present their own reform of eminent domain, rightists will
> exploit the backlash to "reform" it against people's interests.
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Thanks, good information. Actually, despite my initial skepticism, I haven't
as yet seen any legislative initiatives cited in this discussion which could
be described as "right wing" in the sense that they would prohibit or place
new restrictions on eminent domain for public use. The South Dakota law is
where you would have logically expected to find a hidden time bomb. Maybe
someone will. I suppose the countervailing factors, so far as the right is
concerned, is that a) they understand the state needs to have the
expropriation power to lay down public infrastructure on which the private
sector depends, and b) public opinion seems to running strongly in favour of
curbing the practice where it is transparently a land grab on behalf of
private developers. The latter is a mainstream sentiment that "community
organizers" have generally found to be relatively easy to tap into.