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Originally Posted by Warren
Not much "party line". The main objectors were Democrats who think it ties the hands of local and state governments, keeping them from instituting urban renewal in blighted areas.
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That was what I was going to say. The theory which permits razing blighted tenements is the same behind
Kelo. It's difficult to draw a principled distinction between them. You pays your money and you takes your choice. Most people find
Kelo beyond the pale of their tolerance.
Liberals as well as conservatives believe in private property rights. Conservatives as well as liberals care about the poor.
I've always thought, for example, that the environmental restrictions which preclude a private owner from developing their property (e.g., b/c some endangered critter lives on the land) should have been construed as a "taking" and the owner compensated. I thought it was a bit disingenuous to say that the owner still retains enough rights for it not to be a "taking."
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