Pedro Martori, Delegado en Canada,
por Centro para la Democracia en Cuba de Montreal.
Advisors:
Walter Pine and Thelma Roper
Oswaldo Hernandez
Protect Property Rights
Le envio un discurso que mi amigo Walter Pine dio a la legilatura estatal sobre los derechos de propiedad. En nuestra patria no debe de existir el eminent domain como existe aqui en EEUU. Walter dirige el grupo Center For Civil Rights Advocacy.
Al Gutierrez
Presentation to the Select Committee To Protect Property Rights
January 11, 2006
Written and presented by: Walter D. Pine
The debate of the current law of eminent domain falls short of the necessary considerations. History has already shown that the current law leads us to ruin. Current law fails to protect our unalienable property rights. I use the word "unalienable" to describe our rights inviolate out of respect for the efforts and wisdom of the founders of this nation. It is the word they used and the word I shall always use to differentiate the modern sophistry from the ancient wisdom that has stood the test of time. Eminent domain as currently practiced is a corruption of the rights this nation was founded to protect. For generations this evil has festered in the halls of government for the vain purposes of redesigning communities to the desires of those in power and for the base love of money. The poor who own a prime piece of land have as much right to live in such a wondrous location as the rich. People have the right to live in the condition that gives them comfort so long as such comfort does not create a physical risk to those not on their property. Equality demands this. But some, even of those who sound as great patriots would deny this through the sophistry of laws. For generations those that have benefited from the violation of property rights have been politically putting makeup on the boil of corruption. It appears to be gone but the disease festers just out of sight and will erupt again. With each eruption more of the body becomes corrupt and festering until the entire body cries in pain with fear of its destruction by corruption. We are here now because that has already happened. The entire public cried out in pain and demanded your relief. Do not suppose that they do not see the inevitability of the destruction should the evil not be excised, for it is they who destroy the tyrant should this government become such. The evil is obvious to even the most unsophisticated, uneducated among us. The government may take what was earned by one of its citizens to preserve his own existence and use this for the profit or unnecessary pleasures of others. Plainly, the government may, under color of law, violate the citizen's unalienable property rights.
The public is divided in experience, opinion and belief, rarely joined in interests but in their opposition to their land being taken by force of government the public is united. There is fermenting in this nation a great and general mistrust and anger towards government. When the public is unified in a call to redress an evil, great weight and consideration must be given to these matters. Such an outcry, by its very nature presupposes, that government has exceeded the authority the people have consented to. History has shown that a free people will endure evils as long as such may be suffered with the hope of justice. When the hope for justice is clearly denied the public cries out for redress of their grievances. It is clear that justice has been denied by the highest court in this land in the eyes of the public. It is when the public's cries for the redress of evils have gone unanswered that great nations have come to ruin. Do not suppose that because this nation was founded by great men or upon great principles and precepts that this nation cannot fail. Nor should you suppose that an issue so basic to the existence of the individual as the ownership of land cannot lead us to ruin. No matter how great and wondrous the intents of the founders of this nation if we are not true to the principles and precepts laid down by the founders, this nation will inevitably fail. It is to add my voice to call this state back to the principles and precepts upon which this nation is founded that I come before you now. The principles and precepts are what make this nation great and will secure our freedom and our future, you must not fail to follow these principles and precepts.
I have produced a treatise on eminent domain that has been circulated among you by your fellow Representative Bob Allen. I want to publicly express my appreciation to Bob Allen for having the courage to support the principles and precepts established by our founders in the face of such a strong desire to ignore these principles. I formally submit copies of this treatise to your consideration now. Time does not permit me to adequately present a full understanding of the principles and precepts therein so I must leave that to your diligence. I hope with these words to broaden your discussion to what is right and wrong in the context and limitations of the founding principles and precepts of this nation.
People in their greed and arrogance have created laws and supposed authorities in government that violate the purpose for which we, the people came together to form this government. The purpose could be no clearer than in the Declaration of independence:
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
The general nature of the public outcry clearly shows the people do not consent to the current use of eminent domain. Some, it appears too many elected to office would use sophistry to limit the discussion to only the matter that was before the U.S. Supreme Court using all the sophistry at their disposal to make it appear that the cry by the public is so sophisticated as to be so limited. The cry of the masses is cry of pain, fear, and indignation. The cry is what has been done is wrong and beyond what we will tolerate.
The evil has been endured as long as may be tolerated by a free people. It is not your place to only redress the one issue and continually dance on the precipice of destruction. There are those in this discussion and even some among you who would do this to continue in their corrupt gains, hoping that with time the public's fears will be dulled and they will again be able to freely pursue their greed and lusts for power. It is every citizen's duty, a duty upon which you took an oath to do what is right and in accord with the principles that founded this nation. The evil is that government has failed to protect the unalienable property rights of the citizens of this nation. The measures under discussion will not correct this evil. It is your first duty to secure our unalienable rights. The natural limits placed on all actions of government by the unalienable rights of citizens must be reestablished and enforced.
Therefore we must necessarily put government back in its natural limits. Many in this discussion would leave much of the corruption in place. You must excise this evil, that is you must remove and prohibit the ability for government to violate the property rights of the individual.
The law I propose is this:
"Eminent domain condemnation or seizure is only appropriate and may only be used where the property is necessary to the military defense of this nation or necessary to the preservation of the lives of citizens in the community where the seizure occurs and where no property may be obtained through voluntary means that would fulfill the governmental purpose for the land or the governmental purpose achieved by other voluntary means. Prior to the use of eminent domain powers the governmental purpose for eminent domain condemnation or seizure must be proven necessary to the military defense of this nation or to the preservation of the lives of citizens of the community by facts sufficient to overcome the unalienable property rights of the individual whose property is being condemned or seized and those same facts must also prove the specific seizure as a necessity to the community within the United States of America the governmental purpose is intended to serve. Property seized by eminent domain shall only be used for the purpose for which it is seized, if at any time the property is no longer needed or meets the necessity requirement for the purpose for which the property was seized, the property shall be sold back to the original owner or their heirs for the same price it was seized, if the owner from which the property was seized and/or their immediate heirs decline to repurchase the property the property shall be sold at open public auction."
It is my hope to call you to your duty and cleanse government of this evil, but it is my fear that my words will be lost in the whispers of the corrupting enticements of riches and power. This is the greatest nation in the world because of the principles and precepts this nation is founded on. If government is not true to these principles and precepts then tyranny is all that remains. With each law that violates even one citizen's unalienable rights we move closer to tyranny. It is time that we restore to this government the limits the founding principles place upon government.
Cuba Liberty Project
