The least appreciated form of tyranny in the United States goes by the names "redevelopment" and "government-business partnership." While everyone knows about the threat of development-oriented eminent domain, thanks to the 2005 Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, local tyranny goes much deeper than the "mere" taking of property in order to give it to another private party. A case out of Port Chester, N.Y., illustrates the danger.The rest of this week's TGIF column is at the Foundation for Economic Education website.
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Over the last several days former President Gerald R. Ford has been repeatedly praised for “healing” the nation in the aftermath of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Democrat, Republican, and solemn pundit alike paid extravagant tribute to the man who, in their view, saved the American people from “disaster.”Read the rest of this week's op-ed, "What Exactly Did Gerald Ford Heal?," at The Future of Freedom Foundation's website.
But is that what Ford really did? . . . “The long national nightmare is over,” Ford said. But it wasn’t a nightmare for the American people. It was a nightmare for the power elite. Their very legitimacy was in peril. The debt to Ford for restoring their legitimacy is owed by those who hold and aspire to power, not by those who suffer under it.
Cross-posted at Liberty & Power.
great article.
ReplyDeletei agree completely with what you said. i think its ironic that he pardoned nixon and then lost the election to jimmy carter. could ford have done better in carter's place? well that's a whole other debate.