Eminent domain is the power of the government to take property from the people for public use with fair compensation. An example of eminent domain is the government taking someone’s property to build a road. Many people argue this power of the government. They say that how the government uses it today is not how the founding fathers intended it to be used. I think that they are right. The government should not have the power to take away someone’s property away in many cases. Many different philosophies either approve or disapprove this power of the United States Government. Should eminent domain be removed from the constitution?
Eminent domain is very controversial. The reason why is because the government takes peoples property to give to businesses or developers. People argue that this is not what it is for. The businesses and developers then earn money off of that. Is that what the purpose of this is for? I believe it is not, even though it may help the economy by making jobs. This is not the job of the government. Why can’t they build it somewhere else? Every citizen has the right of property and it should not be able to be taken away.
Libertarians view it in more of a strict way. You cannot take away someone’s property no matter what unless you give consent! Libertarians would say that this is not right and unlawful in a libertarian government. Property, liberty, and life cannot be taken away in this philosophy.
In a Utilitarian government they would say that eminent domain is lawful on most occasions. As long as whatever is done benefits the bigger amount of people eminent domain is lawful. So eminent domain is okay in this type of philosophy.
Communitarianism is similar to Utilitarianism in their opinion on eminent domain. Communitarians would say it is okay to take property as long as it benefits the greater amount of people in the society as the utilitarians say the same thing. They would also say it is okay be cause eminent domain has been used for a long time and we need to continue tradition. Communitarians say eminent domain is lawful.
I believe that eminent domain should not be taken out of the constitution. Instead eminent domain should be clarified and things need to be written on paper. Someone property should not be taken away unless it has to. Has to means that there are difficulties caused. For example the road is not wide enough and people have an extra half hour of traffic due to this. This is a difficulty for the people and a change needs to happen. In this situation the government would buy the property from the people and build the road. Eminent domain should not be remove from the constitutions, instead it needs to be revised.
