Posted on 04/19/2011 1:58:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In a free market, theres a pretty simple process for dealing with the situation that arises when one person covets anothers belongings: The coveter makes an offer to purchase them. If the offer is rebuffed, the coveter can make a new proposal, but he cannot simply take what he wants. Its an effective way of recognizing the impracticality of the Tenth Commandment while enforcing the Eighth.
Donald Trumps covetous nature is not in dispute, but what many may forget is that hes no great respecter of the admonition not to steal, either: The man has a track record of using the government as a hired thug to take other peoples property.
This is called, of course, eminent domain. The Constitutions Fifth Amendment allows the government to take private property for public use, so long as just compensation is paid. In the infamous 2005 Kelo decision, the Supreme Court held that public use could include, well, private use, so long as the new property owner paid more in taxes than the previous one. In other words, it allowed developers and the government to gang up on homeowners. The developer gets more land, the government gets more tax money. The only losers are the original owner and his property rights.
A decade and a half ago, it was fresh on everyones mind that Donald Trump is one of the leading users of this form of state-sanctioned thievery. It was all over the news. In perhaps the most-remembered example, John Stossel got the toupéed one to sputter about how, if he wasnt allowed to steal an elderly widows house to expand an Atlantic City casino, the government would get less tax money, and seniors like her would get less this and that. Today, however, it takes a push from the Club for Growth to remind us of Trumps lack of respect for property rights.
The problem dates back to at least 1994. That year, Trump promised to turn Bridgeport, Conn., intoa national tourist destination by building a $350 million combined amusement park, shipping terminal and seaport village and office complex on the east side of the harbor, reported the Hartford Courant. At a press conference during which almost every statement contained the term world class, Trump and Mayor Joseph Ganim lavished praise on one another and the development project and spoke of restoring Bridgeport to its glory days.
The wrinkle? Five businesses and the city-owned Pleasure Beach now occupy the land, as the Courant put it. The solution? The city would become a partner with Trump Connecticut Inc. and obtain the land through its powers of condemnation. Trump would in turn buy the land from the city.
Heres how the story concluded: The entire development would cost the city nothing, Trump said, and no private homeowners would be affected because there are no dwellings on the land. Trump would own everything.
That brings us to the story of the aforementioned elderly widow in Atlantic City, which starts at about the same time. The woman, Vera Coking, had owned property near the Trump Plaza Hotel for three decades, and didnt want to move. Trump thought the land was better suited for use as a park, a parking lot, and a waiting area for limousines.
He tried to negotiate, at one point offering Coking $1 million for the land. But she wasnt budging. So New Jerseys Casino Reinvestment Development Authority filed a lawsuit, instructing Coking to leave within 90 days and offering compensation of only $251,000.
Perhaps the only upside to this story is that in neither case did Trump succeed. The Bridgeport plan fizzled. Coking fought in court, and in part because these were the days before Kelo was decided, no doubt she was lucky enough to win. In 1998, a judge threw out the case.
In 2005, however, Trump was delighted to find that the Supreme Court had okayed the brand of government-abetted theft that hed twice attempted. I happen to agree with it 100 percent, he told Fox Newss Neil Cavuto of the Kelo decision.
Can Republicans support someone with so little regard for the property of others? Lets hope not.
Bttt
Can Republicans support someone with so little regard for the property of others?
———————————————————>
If property includes my tax dollars, I already know what most of the GOP good ole boys in DC support and I don’t care for it at all.
I like Trump so far. He’s doing his nation a great service right now by forcing a discussion on a few important issues.
Also, unlike most of the GOP field, most of his skeletons are already out there, including this.
However, if he’s serious, I want to hear him address this to my satisfaction.
Anti-Palin, Anti-Bachman, Anti-Trump, anti-anti, and the media will turn against the republican they like best once the nominees are actually chosen.
they will prefer someone, probably daniels or some safe republican like him. Then they’ll blow him up.
Some might say that Trump was a businessman using every angle to make something happen. If he could do it with rocks, he’d do it with rocks. IF with cash, then with cash. If with lobbyists, then lobbyists. AND, if with courts, then to the courts he’d go. It’s what they do.
But, the best thing that Trump has done is to point out the ultimate reason for using the Obama Birth issue for any Republican politician.
He said today, “You, MEDIA, can see my financials when I see Obama’s birth certificate.”
That is absolute GENIUS if that’s what he’s been building toward all along.
I am more and more drifting into a Sarah Palin camp, though. She is a long-time anti-abortion advocate and she is probably Deborah to our gelded generation.
She couldn’t find a better hatchet man for VP as D. Trump, a converted pro-lifer, but he’d probably not play 2nd fiddle to anyone. Too bad.
That would be the political version of Slash and Burn.
Whoa! Forgot about this one!
I don’t think all of his skeletons are out yet. He has both social, business, and legal connections with Soros. Those bear further illumination.
To all our Trump happy friends, this will be the least of it.
Trump is a liberal Democrat.
The media has been pretty pro-Trump. They don’t want him vetted, just like in the case of Obama.
I'm a businessmen, this is how things get done. Figure out what the playing field is and work from there.
I think your analysis is pretty good.
I wonder if the New York businessmen that Trump is so close to have gotten fed up with obama as well.
However, I have a great deal of appreciation and admiration for the good work he is doing exposing Obama.
I don't trust Trump as far as he can throw Obama. If he can weaken Obama, let him do that. America can't take four more years of this foolery.
What if he strengthens Obama?
Maybe with Obama’s base, but I doubt it affects any other voting demographic. I consider Obams’s failure to produce a birth certificate a major act of disrespect to America.
Maybe with Obama’s base, but I doubt it affects any other voting demographic. I consider Obams’s failure to produce a birth certificate a major act of disrespect to America.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.