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Politics
...The attitude on both sides of the aisle is that the ultimate principle is, simply, getting your guy in power. Donkeys and elephants above all else. The Elite Left's reaction to Raich and to Kelo has been abominable, and a wholesale selling out of traditional leftist principles. Why'd they do it? Because someday, the donkeys might run this country again. And when/if they do, they want an all-powerful federal government at their disposal.

And what of the right? The Bush administration sided with the leftist justices on Raich. And had the Bush administration filed a brief in Kelo, it would have filed it in opposition to the homeowners. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that our president himself abused eminent domain to make room the baseball stadium the state of Texas gave him. Shortly before he became governor. But that doesn't matter. A conservative activist told me recently that he sort of sympathized with medical marijuana patients but that frankly, he was okay with Raich, because he didn't want the give those hippies any victories (his words). He also conceded that the only guiding principle in his political activism is to "help my team move the ball down the field."

The sports analogy is apt. Political activism is about for your favorite team. Nothing more. The actual consequences are the same no matter who wins -- more government, more collectivism, fewer individual rights, less freedom. The last ten years have proven that. The last four have emphatically driven it home....

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Kelo, Raich and the Left
You know, the next time some thick-headed liberal spouts off about how I or my employer, the Cato Institute, shouldn't be taken seriously because we're "funded by corporations," (a vacant charge, but that's beside the point) I think I'll point to Kelo....