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| The Tennessee Valley Authority exercised its power of eminent domain and condemned the town of Paradise, in Muhlenberg County. It bought out the residents, and razed all the houses and other structures to solve an air pollution problem created by a local coal fired power plant. Photo: Kentucky Photo File |FlickrCC. |
If you’ve been following the
Republican primary closely, you may be aware that eminent
domain has become a hot-button issue for aspiring presidential nominees. It’s
a legal procedure that rarely affects the average voter. Trump, Cruz, and Paul
are, at least, concerned with it.
Eminent domain is a process by
which the government (local or federal) can seize private land for public use,
such as building roads, airports, power lines, and so forth. The Supreme Court
ruled in 2005 that local governments might legally force owners to sell land,
if doing so could foster economic growth and serve the public good. That ruling
has some people, especially in New Hampshire, quite concerned.
Trump had the right of it when
he admitted that, without eminent domain, we wouldn’t have highways, schools,
and a number of other important public services. Cruz has used this to give
himself a boost, by claiming that he would never use eminent domain, and would
fight to restrict its use.
The issue is especially
important in the upcoming New Hampshire primaries, as there is a strong
libertarian bent in the state, and the largest single block of voters,
independents, are overwhelmingly against eminent domain. Iowa, also an early
primary vote, has a similar political bent. Both states have seen strong
resistance to the use of eminent domain to support pipelines, power lines, and
other projects.
Eminent domain is very
contentious for some voters, but it is an issue that rarely comes up, and
doesn’t generally decide presidential elections, as it simply doesn’t impact
most people.
In a nation like the United
States though, where private citizens, or companies, own huge swaths of land,
and federal lands are generally either already developed or set aside for parks
and the like, eminent domain is an important tool for community development. It
will likely be important in early GOP primaries, but it would be surprising to
see it last even until the general election.
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