Warning: check your blood pressure before reading the next two paragraphs…
1. A US marine, native to Texas, returning from two tours of duty in Iraq and enrolling in college, is told he doesn’t qualify for the Texas resident tuition rate because of the time he’s spent out-of-state in Iraq. He’s officially an out-of-state nonresident now, despite his Texas drivers’ license, banking records, etc. (from Cajun)
2. The plaintiffs in the Kelo case, who fought eminent domain seizure of their property for a development project, have been sent enormous bills for back rent for the time they’ve spent living in their own homes and fighting the county in court. (from Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
Both cases certainly qualify for “not quite wrong, but certainly not right.” In the Marine’s case, evidently he enlisted while he and his family were (for a year, as it turned out) living in Louisiana, which means that the Texas Dept of Ed considers him to be a resident of that state. It doesn’t actually have to do with “the time he’s spent out-of-state in Iraq,” but where he said he lived when he enlisted. Correct enough (and God knows residency requirements tend to be byzantine at best), but certainly not what anyone with a heart would say is the *right* thing for Texas to do.
The Kelo case is also a bit more complex. Consider if you decided to try to evict me from property you owned, and I fought that eviction as improper and illegal. Once you prevailed in court, would you be justified in asking both for legal fees for asserting your legal property rights, as well as for rent for the time I was still occupying the property (to essentially compensate you for the damage of the property not being rightfully available for income (or sale) during that time)?
The situations are not quite the same, but they are close. There are certainly dangers in the government being able to threaten someone with, “Give in now, or face these additional huge fees when you lose,” but looked at as a rightful property owner, it’s also dangerous to be able to tell people that they can legally fight against your property rights with no penalty if they lose after years of robbing you of it.
Note that this is a separate issue from whether Kelo was ruled on “correctly,” and doesn’t take into consideration whether the city had agreed to not ask for back rent in exchange for an accelerated trial schedule.
—quote—
The Kelo case is also a bit more complex. Consider if you decided to try to evict me from property you owned, and I fought that eviction as improper and illegal.
—quote end—
Actually, it is a bit different than you describe it. A more accurate description would be:
I tell you that I am taking your property because of (silly bs reason).
You decide to fight me in court because taking your property is obviously not right.
You lose and I charge you years of outrageous rent.
The fact that they believe (and it seems rightly so) that they can just do this with no penalty (even an extra bonus) is outright horrifying.
This is simple abuse of power and usage of fear to help extend their power. We, the people, need to start fighting this kind of thing as it is everywhere and picking up speed at a terrible place.
—quote—
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
—/ quote—
If we allow our government to continue to take everything one of our fellow people has earned just because they say so (or have twisted laws written by themselves), we should not be surprised when they come for what we have accumulated.
If we allow them to also strip those whose assets they are stealing uncontested, then we should not be surprised when they do the same to us.
How do we stop them? What can we do about it?
Stop paying your taxes until those spending them start answering our questions:
http://www.alternet.org/story/15593/