To:
The President of the United States.
The Vice President of The United States
The Members of the United States Senate
The Members of the United States House of Representatives
The Members of the United States Supreme Court
In the Declaration of Independence the founders of this great nation wrote, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” They also built into the structure of our government a process by which we the people can seek to change the nature and function of our government without abolishing it and beginning again.
We the undersigned agree with our founders that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed and feel that our government has exceeded the bounds of that consent. We believe that the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the exercise of eminent domain was reached with complete disregard for the plain language of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
We the people therefore ask that the Constitution of the United States be amended to include the following language:
The right to ownership of property being the cornerstone of liberty, no government, or agency thereof, within these United States shall have the authority to take property from any person, corporation, or organization through exercise of eminent domain for other than a public use without just compensation.
Public use shall be understood to be property the government owns or retains the paramount interest in, and the public has a legal right to use. Public use shall be understood to include property the government owns and maintains as a secure facility. Public use shall not be construed to include economic development or increased tax revenue. Public use of such property shall be maintained for a period of not less than 25 years.
Just compensation shall be the higher of twice the average of the price paid for similar property in the preceding six months, or twice the average of the previous 10 recorded similar property transactions. Compensation paid shall be exempt from taxation in any form by any government within these United States.
Respectfully submitted,
[you]
Sign the Open Source Amendment Project petition here.
9 comments:
done, signature number 104
gee, nobody else since yesterday?
Guess not....I think this will gain momentum though...
Thanks for the support and help in spreading the word.
#118, good work, I'll link it to my site if ok...
Josh
I signed the petition, and posted it on my blog (giving you a hat-tip.
Gary Aminoff
Bear to the Right
http://beartotheright.blogspot.com
I like the concept, but opening a Constitutional Convention today would very effectively destroy the whole shebang.
I want gridlock until Jesus comes to take away all the nuts.
" The right to ownership of property being the cornerstone of liberty, no government, or agency thereof, within these United States shall have the authority to take property from any person, corporation, or organization through exercise of eminent domain for other than a public use without just compensation. "
This private property has been acquired through unjust means at the very first place. The "civilised people", aka Europeans, had the unlimited right to acquire property throug mere discovery.
#148, despite my misgivings (excerpt from a blog entry):
The writers of this should, however, reconsider how they arrive at the values for the property. While it is objective, it may be inaccurate. My wife is a Realtor, and I've heard of properties where there are few or no similar sales to compare with. Also, time should be taken into account. As with the recent housing value increases, you probably wouldn't want your house based on the last ten similar sales if finding those similar sales meant going back to 1997.
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