We’ll all find out soon whether next week’s elections yield the “Democratic wave” so many political seers have predicted. There isn’t much doubt, however, about another kind of electoral wave that has been building across America and is set to crash on Tuesday.
That tsunami is the property-rights backlash, which is the direct result of last year’s misguided and deeply unpopular Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London. A narrow Court majority decided that the Constitution’s “takings” clause somehow allowed the government to seize private property not merely for “public use” but also on behalf of other private interests. . . . No fewer than 11 states (see nearby table) have ballot measures designed to limit government’s ability to pilfer private property for someone else’s private economic development. Eight initiatives would enshrine those restrictions in state constitutions, and polls show that most are headed for victories.
Bring it on!