Our favorite pesticide-addled exterminator, Tom Delay, and the rest of the Republican indulgers in beastiality, e.g. John "Box Turtle" Cornyn and Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum, have finally done something that makese sense: They are going to prohibit federal money from being used to take away people's property in order to give it to private developers.
This is all politics, of course. After leading the biggest growth in the size and scope of government since FDR, the Republican Party can hardly claim to be the party of "small government" and "get the government off of people's backs" anymore. Indeed, they seem to be more the party of "take from the poor and give to the rich via government contracts" nowdays, sorta a reverse Robin Hood. And the practical effect of this ban will be virtually nil. The real grunt work is going to have to be done at the state level, adding amendments to state constitutions to prohibit states from taking from the poor in order to give to the rich (the victims of these sort of "redevelopment" projects tend to be poor homeowners, who are given a pittance for their humble homes and then thrown out on the streets). But still, it is the sort of rhetoric that once was common for Republicans, back before they were the party of Big Government. And it's the sort of rhetoric we need to hear more often -- our government needs to be concerned about *our* rights, not about the rights of Halliburton stockholders or Iraqis.
-- Badtux the Libertarian Penguin
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