Posted on 08/09/2015 7:15:46 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
In a free market, there’s a pretty simple process for dealing with the situation that arises when one person covets another’s 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. It’s an effective way of recognizing the impracticality of the Tenth Commandment while enforcing the Eighth.
Donald Trump’s covetous nature is not in dispute, but what many may forget is that he’s 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 people’s property. This is called, of course, “eminent domain.”
The Constitution’s 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 everyone’s 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 wasn’t allowed to steal an elderly widow’s 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 Trump’s lack of respect for property rights. The problem dates back to at least 1994.
That year, Trump promised to turn Bridgeport, Conn., into“a 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.” Here’s 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 didn’t 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 wasn’t budging. So New Jersey’s 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 he’d twice attempted. “I happen to agree with it 100 percent,” he told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto of the Kelo decision.
Can Republicans support someone with so little regard for the property of others? Let’s hope not.
— Robert VerBruggen is an associate editor of National Review.
Is warning Conservatives about Trump’s Left Wing record a “hit piece”?
Is it OK to expose Hillary’s Liberal record or would that be a “hit piece” as well?
Yeah? I hope that helps him keep other costs down. His money isn’t infinite and he’s gotta save some for television ads.
Important facts become “hit pieces” when they expose your sugar daddy?
We need more of these hit pieces before America makes a fool of herself again.
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Emminant domain requires the government give you ‘fair market value’ for the property. If played right, you can make out like a bandit.
RE: Hit piece.
SO? TRUE OR FALSE, That is the more important question.
Well, one difference is he has a group of conservatives supporting his socialism and cheering it on. But I think he's a lot worse than many on this issue. Even O'Connor decided against Kelo. Trump believes the government owns our property. He is extreme.
RE: from 2011
time travelling hit pieces!
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Why is what happened a mere 4 years ago not relevant today?
Between what you do ( or did ) and what you say, I’ll believe what you do thank you.
It’s more than a couple of years of quiet non-activity. He has never had to show or prove his thoughts have changed
Donald Trump is going to make a great President.
Donald is Hillary’s Thump Card!
Yes, he is the true billionaire liberal that he has always been.
“Is warning Conservatives about Trump’s Left Wing record a “hit piece”?
OK you’ve warned us.
Go Trump!!!!!!!!! :-)
Eminent domain is nothing compared to what both parties have stolen from America through off-shoring.
Trump will put a stop to that. Eminent Domain is in the constitution. You know what else is in the constitution? Import tariffs and international trade regulations/agreements.
I think it very relevant to today, I was poking fun at the idea this was a hit piece. As if anti-Trump agents had gne back into time to plant articles.
RE: When Donald Trump is sworn in, we can breathe deeply and rest assured that he got there, not because of FreeRepublic, but despite it.
And how sure are we that he won’t support the same Kelo crap that he did before?
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Fresh air ping!
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A 2011 editorial in extended news? That’s reallllly extended. Like 4 years extended.
This should be in chat.
Donald Trump is the greatest weapon that the left had ever unleashed. He converts conservatives into socialists with a few magic words.
RE: Donald Trump is going to make a great President.
Explain to us why... in light of this Kelo incident.
Naaah. I just don’t post 4 year old articles in news/activism.
What was it worth to her? In a society where the politically powerless have property rights that are as meaningful as those of the politically powerful, that is the only sensible question.
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