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Democrats need to pick up the ball and run with it.
With its decision to allow private parties to usurp the homes and land of private American citizens for the purposes of simply increasing local tax base revenues and creating a few jobs, the Republican dominated Supreme Court violated the essence of the our Constitutional rights, the right to pursue liberty and happiness, while at the same time radically altering the original purpose of the eminent domain law. The outrage among the American people, on a bi-partisan basis, is palpable.
If one believes this Country is in the process of making the ultra-rich richer, and in that process is eradicating the middle class and hurting the lower income people, that belief can be capitalized (pardon the pun) into a winning 2008 issue by the Democratic party. In that process, the Democrats can accomplish the following:
We can seize this hot potato political issue and persuade the outraged homeowner we will not allow this transgression to happen. Many Republicans I know have investments in real estate in prime locations which now are in jeopardy. As an example, a friend who invested in some prime ocean-front real estate seven years ago has seen that investment quadruple in size. The location of this property would be obviously subject to a ripe takeover by a predator contractor who could put in any number of businesses, office spaces and condo combinations in that exact location with the avid support of the local government. To do so would exactly parallel the situation under review by the Supreme Court when it rendered its decision allowing this predator tactic to become a legal maneuver. The tax base of the local community would be greatly enhanced, the substitution of a contractor's project for the now-existing condominium community on the ocean front would eradicate the long-term investments of the home-owners/investors, and the healthy investments these affluent people made over past years would be simply handed over to the extremely affluent. Some of these people are Republicans. They voted for Bush* for one reason, and one reason only: taxcuts.
Looking at the situation pragmatically, these points appear salient: those taxcuts in place are no substitute for the economic loss people will suffer, affluent as they may be, when their prime real estate investments are simply taken over by those even more affluent.
Put this aside for the moment and look simply at the middle class American person who simply made an investment in a home over the past few years and is now totally de-stabilized by the threat that home can be taken from them by a predator contractor. I fall in that category. Seven years ago in the Washington, D.C. area I bought a home four blocks from a popular metro. I did so because I could not deal with the congestion in the DC area and wanted simply to walk to a metro as opposed to taking my life in my hands on a daily basis to drive on the Beltway in rush-hour traffic. My neighbors are a community of people both Democrats and Republicans who settled in this community for the same reason. This land is a prime target for a predator contractor (by the way, like that term?). It would be so lucrative to take this property, demolish the fine older homes built 50 years ago, and turn it into a complex of office buildings, shopping centers and condos at the expense of those of us who reside here now.
I feel threatened today as I did not the day before this decision was handed down by a Republican Supreme Court. My home is in jeopardy whether a takeover happens or not. This will hang over my head the rest of my life. This is my biggest, most important asset, and my neighbors, as I previously said, both Democrats and Republicans, are in some same endangered position.
I look to my party to take this political football and run with it. The most egregious criticism made of the Dems over the past few years by both Republicans and the media is that we have no issues.
Well, we have one now and the Republicans just simply handed it to us. Looking at the situation through bi-partisan lens, here is a golden opportunity for our party leaders to stand up in opposition to what the Republican Supreme Court just did to the American people and lead the charge away from the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter -- are you listening?
Can we fight for the right of the American people simply to buy a home, invest in real estate, and work to make a few dollars for their long-term retirement benefit without living with the paranoia the Republican Supreme Court decision has now generated -- that our very homes and livelihood can legally be a target for the stalking predatory practices by the very wealthy sharks among us?
Furthermore, as the politicos now charge in the media that the "liberals" have voted for this -- WHERE IS OUR RESPONSE to that outrageous assertion? There are seven Republicans sitting on this Court as we speak. Do YOU truly think we should allow these politicos to make that "liberal" accusation without turning it around into the ballpark in which this political football has been played? This was not accomplished by the liberals: it's a hostile takeover of the American citizens' property by the greedy Republican predators who put in place Republican judges totally willing to hand down a stacked opinion such as this.
Again, where is our response that the liberals have done this?
Looking at this both politically and pragmatically, I say here is an issue for our platform that can attract many, many Americans from all walks of life. Ask our party leaders to look at the outrage and offer a beaconing hand to all Americans who feel threatened. Join us in 2006 and 2008, and we will fight for you. We will take this threat handed down by a Republican Supreme Court and we will do all in our power to keep you from being irrevocably damaged by it.
Are you with me? Do you see this as a golden political issue Democrats can passionately campaign against, and in that process attract voters to our tent in a way we have failed to do so during the Bush* years?
If you believe there is ANY validity to these points, please post your comments here. If we find there is enough support to envelop this issue into our platform, fighting for the common man, the common homeowner, the common investor, as opposed to the ultra-rich, we can work to support the re-emergence and ultimate victory of the Dems in 2008.
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