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.
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>> “That’s all I need to know.” <<
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No, you also need to know how many people have lost their life savings due to Trump’s many bankruptcies.
Slippery as an eel, and a born liberal Democrat that has you fooled completely.
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Subtlety isn’t your strong point. Donald Trump is a known quantity. People like him. Yeah, he may be more populist that conservative, but look what’s in the WH right now. You want Hillary or jeb. Cruz won’t win on his own. Hate to give you the bad news, but it is what it is. I think Donald Trump is the genuine article.
...and in one of those books he attacked Ronald Reagan as a con man.
This thread is about Donald Trump. If you wish to shift the focus on Ted Cruz, why don’t you open a separate thread about him and the TPA and TPP so that we can discuss it...
There’s no hypocrisy or diversion here. Just making a suggestion if you want to MAXIMIZE the “who is better for America, Cruz or Trump” issue.
Actually, it’s 100% hypocrisy and diversion here.
Criminal aliens are flooding across the border and killing literally thousands of Americans. Yet you chose to focus on some ruling that 99.9% of electorate has no idea about. Great strategy there. Priorities, FRiend. Think about them.
I think we’re in agreement there.
I didn’t care for it in this case either. Wasn’t this the one that included Walden’s Pond or some such? Did I confuse issues?
If Trump supported this one, he was wrong.
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>> “Donald Trump is a known quantity” <<
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Yes, he is!
A slippery slimey liberal Democrat all of his life, until Hillary needed him to run interferance for her.
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I was one of those, unfortunately. Fred was indeed a stalking horse for McQueeg and Trump is a stalking horse for Hillary.
RE: If Trump supported this one, he was wrong.
Not only did he support it, his business was involved.
“Ain’t theater. I’ve been on this planet long enough to know a liar. Donald Trump is the real deal.”
It’s true. He’s a real liar.
Well, then he was wrong.
And when he called for a shutdown of the government to end funding for Planned Parenthood, you should have been happy about it and said so.
That’s how it works.
” We need to get our foot in the door. and Trump’s the guy to do it. Cruz will make a brilliant VP, while paving his way to the presidency.”
Basically what I have been saying for over a month now . Trump 4 or 8 years would usher in Cruz for 8 more . Making America great again .
If you were being honest, every candidate in this race has warts - including Ted Cruz - who I really like. He voted for TPP, which in my opinion, is far more harmful to our nation than the Kelo affair.
I don’t beat up on people for past mistakes. My first vote was for Pat Buchanan.
People who keep making the same mistakes are another matter.
The diversion is all yours!
Trump will keep every alien that has a job.
That is what he has said multiple times.
They all have jobs. Its the Americans that lave lost theirs and Trump thinks it is ok.
He employs illegals in his hotels. He needs to be prosecuted, and I hope Ted does it.
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Hope they keep it up. Trump's popularity will jump up another 2 or 3 percentage points.
Who’s OK with government seizing private property from private citizens for private purposes.
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And who’s okay with the Congress giving the President (Obama) power to fast track negotiating authority, whereby Congress CANNOT Amend or Filibuster a trade agreement? The President has free reign to negotiate trade agreements with NO SAY from the US Congress. Does Iran ring a bell?
As a U.S, Senator, Ted Cruz was initially comfortable doing this very thing! I guess this doesn’t bother you...?
Wake up!
Trump cannot get elected and he knows it.
His negatives among likely Republican voters are reaching 60%.
He wants only to run as a Turd party spoiler to block a Republican victory.
Give up troll!
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