Constant Conservative

The use of eminent domain by government is almost always fraught with issues. In the case of the land which is somehow desirable for a 9/11 memorial, Cato has it absolutely right:

The U.S. Park Service has designed a memorial for Flight 93, the one that crashed in rural Pennsylvania on 9/11.  The plans have been in the works for some time, with the government and representatives of Flight 93’s victims working with the property owners—even explicitly assuring them in 2002 that eminent domain would not be used.

As time passed, however, and the self-imposed deadline to have a memorial in place for the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy grows nearer, the government has become impatient and now plans to condemn the land of the seven owners (representing about 500 of the planned 2,200 acre memorial and national park) who have not yet worked out a deal with the Park Service.

There is much more, so go read it. Bottom line is this, while the memorial in itself is a good thing,  doing a good thing the wrong way is not following the rule of law.

I would like to take the idea a bit further and say that I find it troubling that we are building memorials to those who died in one of this country’s largest civilian tragedies, while at the same time appearing to run roughshod over the the fundamental property rights of those who are still with us. After all, what is more important–a 10-year anniversary which be unattended by those whom it honors, or regular people who, quite literally, had history happen to them?