the aftershocks of kelo

Or one of them, anyway. Check out this VD post about a New Jersey town seizing private land so it can collect...less taxes.

In a twist on this summer's Supreme Court decision allowing a Connecticut city to seize private land and turn it over to developers, a New Jersey appeals panel has OK'd the taking of property from developers to assure the area remains as open space.

Hmmn...so the gummint can only steal your land to use it for the public good, right? And nowadays they can give it to another private citizen or group who promises to net them more money. Okay, that's getting out of hand--but wait, there's more! Apparently "public good" includes just about anything other than what you want to do with your land. It seems the public is better served through higher-priced developments and open space. Can landowners win? No matter what people do with their property it will always have some so-called "better use" and thus landowners are caught in a lose-lose situation.

Face it, if the powers that be want your land they're gonna get it. To hell with laws, respect, property rights, or whatever else may stand in the way. That's what this is all about methinks. Vox is dead on when he says "...the courts - government agencies - are trying to make sure that a government can do whatever it wants whenever it wants, for whatever reason." Yup, and unfortunately there's not a lot Joe Blow is going to do about it. At least not in the short term...