If you have a clear deed to property, you own it outright and can do whatever you want with it. Unless, of course, the state wants it to build a school or public building. Or to give it to a developer to build shopping centers and fancier homes. Or to build a stadium for a baseball team.
Since that’s true, do you really own property in this country? Or do you just have the use of it until a politician’s whim decides to put it to another use?
Here in Birmingham, the city government is planning to build a new stadium and “entertainment district” that will center around the return of a minor league baseball team that wisely fled to the suburbs 20 years ago. Mayor William Bell said Monday that the city is ready to use eminent domain to force property owners to sell.
In Latin, eminent domain means “supreme lordship,” and that’s exactly what it means in English, too. The state owns you and the property that’s allegedly yours. The state is the supreme lord over you. Don’t forget that. But also don’t forget why you’ll be better off without the state.