14 - Eminent Domain

The principle of eminent domain has always been in a bit of a tangle when it comes to the other principles present in our constitution. The government rhetoric of eminent domain is a noble one: it is up to the government to seize property in order to benefit communities in need, but today, such acts of domain rarely seem to fit the once upon a time fairy tale idea of the law, instead catering to some other force or private company and not to the people who are often forced off the land. One notable event that has contested the idea of eminent domain is the Dakota pipeline making the Sioux tribes living off the land be relocated, making a similarity between the times when the United States sold off native land to settlers in the name of freedom, wealth, and Jesus. Other instances of eminent domain can promise to rejuvenate declining towns, but they rarely come to fruition, often leaving the lots empty - sea of decaying asphalt, rather than a town with new lifeblood. The most successful instances of eminent domain come from not at the expense of communities, but as an expense to large, wealthy, landowners, as their lands can be used to create new parks or new cities instead of replacement or destruction of common lands, as well as public lands being available to everyone and not being exclusionary.