And, it wasn't very pretty. In the early seventies when the US Army Corps of Engineers wanted to keep themselves in business by building dams on free-flowing rivers in the US, our farm was in the way of one of those dams.
I got a first-hand look at eminent domain, how it can work, what it can do to you, and, in this case, it was not for the public good. But business and local politicians were involved long before the poor wretches who would not only lose their homes, but also their income...farms.
There were three suicides in the area. A high rate for a rural area at the time. The approach could have been caring and thoughtful, but hey, why waste money doing something like that?
What I learned below the fold:
1. Money does the talking, as always. The Corps would move into an area and have meetings with small, local politicians and small business men. Once they were convinced of the profits to be had from all this, they then also worked with state government and business men.... then, they would meet with those that would be directly affected.
2. There is always a theme developed as to what, in this case, a dam can do for you. Flood control was the theme, though underlying, of course, was the government money to be brought to the area and the money to be made by business ... mostly real estate next to the affected area.
3. Cost benefit ratios can be manipulated. The benefit for the dam built in my area was the reduction of a flood on the Ohio River by a few inches south of Cincinnati... I kid you not.
4. Government will want to save taxpayers money or make their cost benefit ratio look better and take your property for as little as possible.
5. When you refuse the cheap price offered and not the market value, you then fall into the trap.
6. Your property is then taken by eminent domain. No money exchanges hands. You pay lawyers to fight for more money so that you can move into something equivalent.
7. Because you no longer own your property, you pay the government rent to live there. And, in the case of a farm, you also pay rent for the number of acres planted, the number of cows grazing, etc.
8. You cannot win. You cannot afford to keep paying rent on your own property while you are trying to get more money to actually move and you are paying legal fees, etc.
9. The government has all the resources to fight you and you have limited resources.
10. You lose... whether it's for the common good or not.
Eminent domain can be a very dangerous thing. The governor of Ohio, at the time, made money through a front business that picked up property around the lake for the current price and sold later for much more once the dam was built.
Abuse is the problem, obviously. It's always been here. Have you ever noticed in large cities when freeways, interstates were first built ... they didn't go through expensive neighborhoods, even if that was the most direct route. Money rules. Interstates always went through the poorest neighborhoods.
The common good is defined by who has the most power to make the most money... always has been, always will be.