What is Eminent Domain?

A lot of people hear or use this common misunderstanding of the word 'eminent domain' and don't actually realize what it means or know the true definition.

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, “eminent domain” is the right of a government to appropriate private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner. Use of this policy to acquire people’s property and residences is very unjustified, due to the amount of complaints and protests coming from many citizens from all over. This cruel, familiar occurrence is exactly what the government is doing to tax-paying law abiding citizens right now in our community and other communities all over the globe.

Millions of people all over the country are being uprooted or taken away from their homes by the government, so that pipelines, buildings, or others sorts of construction can be built in its place.

Any person that owns anything, even outside of owning land or property, would come to an agreement with me when it came to the point where the government was stealing their belongings. “Indeed, about the only people who support the abusive practices are those who stand to benefit from it: local political officials, including big city mayors such as New York’s Michael Bloomberg; and planners and developers” (Russchmann and Nasiatka 28). This proves that basically the only people who support the idea of eminent domain are the ones working alongside the government, or the ones getting something out of it; mayors or citizens making a living.

Many people work very hard in order to get a good career and live in a nice home for their families and themselves, and the government giving them fair market value might just not be enough for these hardworking people.