PolicyGuy

Monday, June 27, 2005


Supremely Disappointing
Last week's Supreme Court ruling giving federal blessing to demolishing Granny's house to make way for Enormous Shop-A-Lot has sparked a lot of commentary. Today's first (and perhaps only) blog entry links to a couple of thoughts I have posted to the Detroit News blog.

As I argue here , the Kelo decision is simply the latest step in the logic that government-led economic development is better. It also provides an out (that is, a way to get more revenue) for politicians who might wish to avoid the hard work of either persuading constituents to raise tax rates, or withstanding the firestorm of criticism that would come from de-funding some existing programs.

Another post mentions the two ways that land-grabs for private gain can be resisted: relying on the public to exert political pressure on those who plan coercive economic development projects, or (better) enacting or strengthening constitutional protections at the state level.

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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