In Ohio there is currently a case before the state Supreme Court pitting regular homeowners against the government. It is one of the first tests of our federal high court’s ruling on eminent domain, which acknowledges the right of the government to take people’s homes to make way for economic development.
Last week I met with people who are fighting the state’s effort to take their homes away, and I was struck by a sense that they are being denied a fundamental aspect of the American Dream.
These are people who grew up believing that if they played by the rules, pledged their allegiance to the flag and paid their taxes the government would protect them and their property. Then, all of a sudden, they woke up one morning and were told by the government that bulldozers were going to demolish their homes in the name of economic progress.
Obviously, a common sense approach to improving the blighted areas of our cities and towns is necessary. But to replace people’s homes for just a better shopping experience goes against everything that our country stands for.
And that’s my take "From the Heartland."
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