Court Abolishes Private Property

The Supreme Court ruling handed down today in Kelo v New London declares what we have known all along. All land—publicly and privately owned—is the king’s land and we use it only at his pleasure. Now every petty local official and robber baron has the right to anything that you own.

The myth of private property has been a cherished idea for many years. But the fact is that the government has laid claim to all the land for decades. The test of this is very simply. If your house and land are fully paid, the government can still legally take it away from you. If you fail to pay property tax the government can take it away from you. The fact that you can loose it means it never really belonged to you.

The decision today just expands the ease with which the government can separate you from you land. Wealth redistribution has expanded from tax revenue to assets. Now we can rob land from the middle and lower classes and give to the rich with the same ease that the New Deal has robbed money from the rich and given to the middle and lower classes.