If we are to have a serious debate about eminent domain, we need to get beyond this ridiculous distinction between public and private use. Government is a racket that rewards itself through plunder and always in the name of public purpose. The truth is that there is no coherent way to separate public and private purpose when it comes to government. Its roads benefit private contractors and serve private interests. It’s true they are “free,” but so are the streets in shopping malls, which are private. As for public schools, the teachers unions and hordes of bureaucrats are private interests too. Indeed, there is no such thing as the “public,” there are only individuals.
Contrary to both the pro-Kelo and anti-Kelo people, the problem is not public or private use. It is eminent domain itself, which is the best example of how government is not the protector of private property but its main violator. No individual should be allowed to take property from others for any purposes. Government should not be judged by a moral code different from that which we use to judge individuals. And certainly nothing is more preposterous than the notion that the seat of the world empire is the best protector of our rights.
