On May 27, in reporting the imprisonment of a Chinese farmer who had dared challenge government seizure of his land, the Los Angeles Times observed that, “Officially there is no private land ownership in China. This allows local officials to exploit a loophole whereby they seize property as public land, offer farmers a small sum, change the land’s status and sell it to private-sector developers for a considerable profit.” (Organizer of Land-Seizure Protest in China is sentenced.) How ironic. This sounds precisely like what the Supreme Court, in its recent eminent domain ruling in the Kelo v. City of New London, has now enabled in the United States.
Aren’t we supposed to be encouraging China to adopt our liberalized view of freedom and individual rights rather than adopting their corrupt, totalitarian ones? I urge the Malibu City Council to take whatever action is necessary to insure that such an abuse of power is never exercised in this community by authorities at any level, federal, state or county. Let’s make Malibu a “No Eminent Domain” zone and set an example for the rest of the country to follow.
Wade Major