The Eminent Domain of Caesar
The feature front page story in the Los Angeles Times today was "States Acting to Protect Private Property." Ever since the Supreme Court ruled last year that eminent domain, the power of government to take property for public use, could extend into allowing developers to take such property if it increases a community's tax revenue, many have been concerned that this could be an undue extension of government power.
Thank goodness government is now boldly stepping up to use its power to, um, well um, ahem, fix the problem of too much power.
How insidiously clever for government to hock such a ruse upon us, but it is nothing new in a heavily Catholicized nation. They've been doing it for centuries and centuries, convincing the people that the management of their sin requires such activity. And regrettably, they're right. If you're a sinner, you need it.
In fact, the very writers of the Constitution must've known this fact, because it's all written in there, too. Look at the Fifth Amendment very carefully. It doesn't say the government can take property by eminent domain, it says the government can't take property unless it is for public use. See, public use only! Nothing else, you overly abusive government people!
The idea the writers of the Constitution had was that government in a quasi-democracy must be operated by sinners, and as such they need a bit of reminding about what precisely should be protected from them and from other sinners who'd just as soon mess with others--and their property. In fact that's what the entirety of the Bill of Rights was about.
Here's the really twisted thing in all of this. Think about it. Why wouldn't we want smart developers to take out even the slightest "blight," build wonderful new residential or commercial edifices, and in the process provide municipalities with the money for the very best parks, schools, streets, and recreation centers? Furthermore, if you were one of the subjects of confiscation, you could easily find out what your property was worth to the developer and ask for the commensurate value in just compensation. That is, in any other assessment your home may be worth a mere $50,000, but to the developer and the municipality it may be worth $20 million. So ask for $16 million! If the government is so supportive of the "little guy" as the states are claiming they are here, why wouldn't you get that, or something very close to that?
The problem is in the ruse. It is in convincing us that all of this is good because the government does it-- whether it is Founding Fathers or courts or state legislatures. Don't get me wrong. Spectacular new development is a great thing. But when the preeminent city-builder Cain does it, all he's doing is drawing people into further devotion to him.
People just don't see that if they actually gave their devotion to God, He would do it, they would not only have much more bountiful provision but they would see their names written in heaven. The critical difference between Cain and Christ is that with Cain, you'll get all the stuff, but you'll still have the bitterness, the animosity, the incessant covetousness that comes with living life immersed in the wide deceit that drives the Catholicist Nation. With Christ, you get more of the stuff and you get genuine community of people who have given up the oppression of the law for authentic expression of Truth and Grace among one another.
With the states now taking the charge of administering "protection from eminant domain," as it were, it is as if the right weren't a right unless the states can make it so in light of the Supreme Court's interpretation. It is all nothing less than government presumptively dispersing rights. And in that, you're being faked out, because government will still confiscate your property for whatever reason the city-builders contrive.
But again, it's what God had given Cain the authority to do for people who refuse to live in His Kingdom. It's what Caesar does on behalf of those living fully in the World.
For them, eminent domain under their lord is precisely what they ask for.
There is another option to the World. Check it out here.
For exposition about the awarded dominion of Cain, read this passage from the book of Genesis.
Thank goodness government is now boldly stepping up to use its power to, um, well um, ahem, fix the problem of too much power.
How insidiously clever for government to hock such a ruse upon us, but it is nothing new in a heavily Catholicized nation. They've been doing it for centuries and centuries, convincing the people that the management of their sin requires such activity. And regrettably, they're right. If you're a sinner, you need it.
In fact, the very writers of the Constitution must've known this fact, because it's all written in there, too. Look at the Fifth Amendment very carefully. It doesn't say the government can take property by eminent domain, it says the government can't take property unless it is for public use. See, public use only! Nothing else, you overly abusive government people!
The idea the writers of the Constitution had was that government in a quasi-democracy must be operated by sinners, and as such they need a bit of reminding about what precisely should be protected from them and from other sinners who'd just as soon mess with others--and their property. In fact that's what the entirety of the Bill of Rights was about.
Here's the really twisted thing in all of this. Think about it. Why wouldn't we want smart developers to take out even the slightest "blight," build wonderful new residential or commercial edifices, and in the process provide municipalities with the money for the very best parks, schools, streets, and recreation centers? Furthermore, if you were one of the subjects of confiscation, you could easily find out what your property was worth to the developer and ask for the commensurate value in just compensation. That is, in any other assessment your home may be worth a mere $50,000, but to the developer and the municipality it may be worth $20 million. So ask for $16 million! If the government is so supportive of the "little guy" as the states are claiming they are here, why wouldn't you get that, or something very close to that?
The problem is in the ruse. It is in convincing us that all of this is good because the government does it-- whether it is Founding Fathers or courts or state legislatures. Don't get me wrong. Spectacular new development is a great thing. But when the preeminent city-builder Cain does it, all he's doing is drawing people into further devotion to him.
People just don't see that if they actually gave their devotion to God, He would do it, they would not only have much more bountiful provision but they would see their names written in heaven. The critical difference between Cain and Christ is that with Cain, you'll get all the stuff, but you'll still have the bitterness, the animosity, the incessant covetousness that comes with living life immersed in the wide deceit that drives the Catholicist Nation. With Christ, you get more of the stuff and you get genuine community of people who have given up the oppression of the law for authentic expression of Truth and Grace among one another.
With the states now taking the charge of administering "protection from eminant domain," as it were, it is as if the right weren't a right unless the states can make it so in light of the Supreme Court's interpretation. It is all nothing less than government presumptively dispersing rights. And in that, you're being faked out, because government will still confiscate your property for whatever reason the city-builders contrive.
But again, it's what God had given Cain the authority to do for people who refuse to live in His Kingdom. It's what Caesar does on behalf of those living fully in the World.
For them, eminent domain under their lord is precisely what they ask for.
There is another option to the World. Check it out here.
For exposition about the awarded dominion of Cain, read this passage from the book of Genesis.
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