30 December 2005

Eminent Domain Abuse in DC

What is it about 'just compensation' that liberals don't understand? The DC government is [ab]using it's eminent domain power to take land to build a new stadium for Major League Business Baseball. Even though construction has yet to begin (heck, there hasn't even been a groundbreaking) there are already cost overruns. No surprise there. Since when has getting a liberal government involved ever been a way to save money? At any rate, to offset rising costs, DC plans to sell some land to developers! Now, if they can sell the land at a profit, just how is it that they can say that they gave the current owners 'just' compensation? The real question is: why is the government involved at all? If it truly makes financial sense to build a stadium in DC, why are half a billion dollars in public subsidies necessary? When DC has the worst schools in the country, does it really make sense to spend $500,000,000 in public funds to give illiterate kids one more reason to skip school?