Two elderly women in Beijing, China named Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying have been sentenced to a year of “re-education through labor" for the "crime" of applying for a permit to protest during the Olympics. According to Andrew Jacobs in the New York Times "Their grievance, receiving insufficient compensation when their homes were seized for redevelopment, is perhaps the most common complaint among Chinese displaced during the country’s long streak of fast economic growth." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
Wait til New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani learn of the possibilities of jailing people for protesting eminent domain. Bloomberg announced after the infamous Kelo Supreme Court decision that he would contribute to candidates who support the use of eminent domain for "economic development."
Bloomberg poses as a technocrat above ideology. In common with the Communists, American statists embrace the fallacy of economic planning exploded by economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek.
Currently, I am fighting together with my fellow New York Libertarians eminent domain schemes in Willets Point in Queens, Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and Manhattanville (West Harlem) in Manhattan.
It isn’t enough to oppose a particular project. The fallacies of government involvement in economic planning and development must be combatted.
In former Congressman Bob Barr, we have a strong opponent of eminent domain abuse. See http://www.bobbarr2008.com/issues/property-rights-eminent-domain/.
Whether it is Communist China, Republican or Democrat-controlled America we find again and again legalized theft in the form of eminent domain abuse. Both Communist Chinese and Demopublican Americans proclaim this to be for the public good.
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(About the author: Richard Cooper is the export/import manager of a Long Island, New York manufacturer. He fought for property rights and against eminent domain as chair of the Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org. He is a presidential elector of the Libertarian Party www.lp.org for Bob Barr www.bobbarr2008.com)
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