An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Shredding Rights
5th Amendment:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Not So Private Property?: Clean Water Restoration Act Raises Fears of Land Grab
Upwards of 40 percent of all land in the United States is already under some form of government control or ownership — 800 million to 900 million acres out of America’s total 2.2 billion acres.
The government now appears poised to wield greater control over private property on a number of fronts. The battle over private property rights has intensified since 2005, when the Supreme Court ruled in the Kelo v. City of New London case that the government could take property from one group of private landowners and give it to another.
I’m no Constitutional scholar, which is all too obvious on a regular basis, but I honestly do not believe that our Founding Fathers intended for the 5th Amendment to be used as a confiscatory tool.
