Big Government | Liberty: There is No Greater Cause

Archive for the category “Big Government”

29 Oct 2013

The Fall of Rome and Modern Parallels | Lawrence Reed at FreedomFest

If you have 17 minutes to spare this is an excellent, quick description of the Fall of Rome. The speaker need not even draw the parallels to modern society, it will be so obvious, you will do it on your own.

Bad character leads to bad policy and bad economics, which is bad for liberty. Without character, a free society is just not unlikely, it’s impossible.

To avoid the fate of the dead and buried Roman Republic, what does America need today?

America needs more men and women who do not have a price at which they can be bought; who do not borrow from integrity for expediency; who have their priorities straight and in proper order; whose handshake is an iron-clad contract; who are not afraid of taking risks to advance what is right; who are honest in small matters as well as in large ones; who treat the rights and properties of others as they expect others should regard theirs.

More transcript available after the break, or just watch above…

City of Seattle abuses eminent domain so a parking lot can become a parking lot | The Freedom Foundation

Courtesy The Freedom Foundation Blog.

Seattle’s City Council voted unanimously Monday to use eminent domain to take private property. They say they must seize the private property, which is currently being used as a parking lot, in order to turn it into … a parking lot. (Here is the link to the original notice). Local Station Q13Foxnews discussed this story here.

In addition to eminent domain abuse, the City of Seattle has recently been in the news for hiding public records, and sinking the farm boat. The common thread among all three of these stories is that, in Seattle, central planning takes priority over people. In this case, they decided it was critically important to seize a parking lot from its 103-year-old owner so that it can be a parking lot. At least this is their stated justification.

Seattle has a history of complete and total incompetence in managing parking, well-documented at the Pacific Place parking garage. Instead of abusing eminent domain, the City Council should have passed a resolution that would prevent Seattle from ever getting into the parking business again. For people familiar with eminent domain abuse, however, this is just another example of how Big Government Central Planners use their power to crush the dreams and aspirations of the “little people.”

The desire of the Central Planners for control is once again permitted to outweigh the people’s need for government to make rational decisions that benefit taxpayers and citizens (Of course, the City of Seattle just banned using the term “Citizen”). In this case, a 103-year old lady’s property is slated to be taken “for the greater good.” Yet that “good” is really just the personal aspirations of city planners and officials.

As has been pointed out, the City of Seattle actually has plans to “redevelop” this property and turn it into a parking garage or mixed use development once the Viaduct is gone. Most observers believe that when Seattle’s Big Dig is done and the Viaduct construction is over (assuming this ever happens), this woman’s land will be prime real estate worth far more than what the City of Seattle will pay by seizing it now. This might be true (although the City wants us to believe there is nothing to see here), but the property owner appears to have a plan to donate this property to charity at the maximum value so that her desired charity will benefit:

Read the rest at The Freedom Foundation Blog.

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