Professor Kent Schooland has posted “Eminent Domain and the Eighth Commandment,” a piece with his thoughts about the morality of condemning property and the system of “just compensation.”
Given the realities of eminent domain, perhaps we should prepare our children with relevant civics lessons for the playground. Whena gang of kids wants to grab a pretty ring off the finger of a littlegirl, they can avoid annoying accusations of “theft” by following a fewsimple steps:
1) The gang must use the Latin words eminent domain, never “stealing.”
2) The gang must designate one of their members as leader—thus the “superior owner” of everything on the playground.
3)The gang leader must instruct his or her lieutenants to “tax” a fewcoins from other children on the playground in order to offer “justcompensation” to the girl when her ring is taken.
4)The gang leader must explain that his actions are for the collectivegood—as he determines the “good.” If the girl cries over the loss ofher ring, this can be justified. The leader can explain that it isselfish to keep one’s own belongings; and it is unselfish to take whatbelongs to others.
Read the whole thing here.