Monday, June 27, 2005

Bureau for Bitching and Moaning Pt. 2

Partisan Politics

This court decision is a major blow to the citizens of this country.  I am compelled to point out that in the last six years American citizens have had the character of their relationship with the government changed radically:

1. Takings: Any local government can now hand your private property to another private owner if any excuse for redevelopment is avialable.  This is a clear invitation for corruption, and will inevitably result in a major upswing of same.

2. Trial by Jury: The current administration has reserved for itself the right to detain and permanently imprison any citizen, without trial or justification, under the guise of “fighting terror”. 

Let’s recap.  Any property you own is yours strictly subject to the whims of the government.  Your freedom itself is also an illusion in the “conservative” world of George W Bush; it currently has no force under the law if some arbitrary member of the administration decides otherwise.

So what private right is Bush for, exactly?  Well, he’s strongly in favor of allowing property owners to pollute the hell out of that property, regardless of the effect on others.  Apparently there’s some sort of principal at work in that case.  I struggle to understand how environmental concerns are less of a “public use” than protecting the profits of developers, but there it is.

These two things are pretty damn fundamental, and I’d say the average citizen of this country figures they’re his birthright.  They are, of course.  But we are in exceptional times, times in which corruption and greed flow like electricity through the body politic, taking the path of least resistance.  This administration is indistinguishable from its insider supporters, and its policies, while lacking any verifiable correlation between promised and actual effect, have inevitably benefited those same insiders.

‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’


Posted by Ross on 06/27/05 at 12:07 PM
Partisan Politics • Permalink