But it is more than this. The Kelo v. New London decision is as horrific to me as it is to you (especially as a Northeasterner who knows the land whereof we speak). The SCF issue is the vanguard of the problems of the future, in terms of balancing the greater good of a community with individual property rights and the rights to unlimited individual accumulation of wealth. I’m neither a libertarian nor a socialist, but a Christian — and I’d like to point out, from my point of view, that Jesus took a pretty dim view of property rights and wealth, as did the author of Acts of the Apostles…and most of the 8th century prophets. But that’s not going to carry weight with you, and that’s OK. Let’s look at it from a larger, non-faith-based point of view.

The issue is not eminent domain per se, but what eminent domain has been and is now used for — for projects that will increase the tax base of a community, and, in Kelo, for the rights of one private entity to gather wealth at the expense of another private entity (BAD!!). But SCF points to the fact that in the cities of the future, there are community goods that actually are not based in wealth, and we need to learn how to value them accordingly as we balance individual and community rights. When intangible community goods are not honored, tangible community goods will suffer. The lack of decent food, peaceful community endeavors, and greenspace in South Central LA is deeply connected to the high level of violence, physical illness, unemployment, and poverty in that area. The state of the world, libertarian guy, argues that the ability of individuals to pursue their own happiness can indeed be negatively impacted by the constraints of their local communities; and that people who value individual happiness as the highest good, in order to be logically consistent, need to value community intangibles along with money and property rights.

That’s where the rub is here, and that’s where we need to develop new and different thinking in our crowded, impoverished, and sick inner cities. The SCF shows that individuals even in the worst circumstances are eager to do what they can for their own good and the good of their community. Why not support them with all the power of our polity?

Eminent domain abuse is a real, tangible tragedy. This is just a bunch of socialist-minded simpletons who managed to hire a liberal attorney dumb enough to take their case.