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socialists and libertarians on eminent domain
The recent supreme court ruling on eminent domain strikes me as a fascinating opportunity for libertarians and socialists to find common ground.
No, seriously! Stop laughing.
I know that the stereotype people have of the socialist position on eminent domain is that it's a tool for taking away the property rights of individuals and giving them to the state, thus nationalizing property. If you search for socialism and "eminent domain" most of what you'll find is conservative libertarians claiming exactly that.[0]
However, if you listed to what actual socialists have been saying about eminent domain all along, you'll find that they... that *we*[1] have long identified eminent domain as a tool heavily misused in the exact ways that the dissenting opinion warns of. That local governments all along have been using this tool to disenfranchise the poor and benefit corporations.
[0] Screw you, all of you people who've contributed to making "socialist" and "feminist" dirty words with stupid slander like this. You play dirty pool and you deserve to burn for the damage you've done to truth.
[1] Yeah, "we." I've been thoroughly disgusted with the party of my adulthood for awhile, now[2] and have been wondering if it's time to return to my roots.
[2] Previously I'd only been mostly disgusted, but that was the last straw. I don't need him to be supportive, but he really could have kept his mouth shut. His previous answer of "it's a state issue, not a federal one" was plenty good enough for me this time around. He wasn't running for state office; he didn't need to take a more-specific stand.
What I've been reading lately: A lot of feminist blogs. Especially Bitch, Ph.D.. There's a lot of links here from her, because most of what she writes has me jumping up and down and shouting "yes, yes!"
Katha Pollitt writes about reframing the abortion debate in The Nation. Reading that insiprired me to re-read what Bitch, Ph.D. wrote about trusting women to make moral judgements.
"Reproductive freedom" means just that. How are we free to build families when women are punished for raising children by reduced wages -- why is paid parental leave so rare? When so many places are toxic to children -- why are there so many schools and homes near factories and power plants? When breastfeeding women are societally pressured to cloister themselves in order to not bother prudes -- why are there only fifteen states which exempt breastfeeding from indecency laws? And so on, and so on.
Bitch, Ph.D. writes, regarding the culture of rape: "Telling rape victims--including drunk 18yos in Aruba--that they ought not to be flashing the goodies reduces women to, well, to goodies to be flashed. Dude, if I get drunk off my ass and stumble down the street, I'm not flaunting "goods" to be "stolen." I'm getting drunk and stumbling down the street. If you see it as anything else then bingo, baby: that's what we call rape culture."
Be careful -- according to the Supreme Court, it's okay for local governments to confiscate your home in the name of econonomic growth. This sort of things makes me think seriously about heading back to my socialist days -- because regardless of how I feel about other uses of eminent domain, corporate greed is *never* in the public good.
If you or someone you love has hips, discover or rediscover the poetry of Lucille Clifton. You'll be glad.
Highlights of recent blog-reading: Women in Pakistan. Body politics. Public atheism.
Yes, I'm reading coverage of the Downing Street Memo, and all the news about why there's been so liittle news about it.
But I've still found time to read other things:
Echidne of the Snakes writes, regarding Mukhtaran Bibi: "...the whole case demonstrates how and why women's rights are not of great priority in so many places on this earth: they are awkward reminders that not all tradition is good, they demand rights for those who traditionally are idolized as not wanting any, and the society does need to change for such rights to exist."
In Body Politic, Laurie writes about gender and body privilege: "As men are being made more and more aware of the ways their bodies fail to match a mythical perfection, one thing that can happen is that some men’s criticisms of women’s bodies can become angrier and more explicit. In this way, the world works to keep us from forming the cross-gender and so many other alliances that can help to create change."
Majikthise discusses Tim Shorte and his "declined" election as chair of the Brooklyn College Sociology department: "A CUNY sociologist was tried in the media for an unsigned polemic he wrote as a private citizen and posted to an obscure independent website."
Also:
- Shakespeare's Sister writes about racial bias in reporting. Mainstream media reports its own bias as news.
- Sean of Preposterous Universe writes about senators who somehow aren't willing to condemn lynching.
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