But sometimes an issue rises to the level of urgency even as we allow the process to work. Case in point: the recent United States Supreme Court decision on eminent domain.

Prior to June 23, the law of eminent domain in America was wielded within the traditional context of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution that provides that "No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

Today, this "public use" provision no longer means what it did even one short week ago.

This provision now means that locally elected officials can take private property from anyone, anytime they feel a need to create economic development. No longer is eminent domain limited to the taking of private property for public use.

Now, private property (your home) can be taken for another person's private use. Public use now means public purpose, and that purpose could be anything money can buy (or anything upon which taxes could be collected).

Let me be more specific. Under this new court ruling, locally elected officials can take your home from you and give that property to another person or private entity.

Suppose your home and the block of residences around you are deemed valuable pieces of property for the purpose of commercial development. Your mayor and city council can simply justify taking your home and those of your neighbors by invoking any number of financial reasons to "benefit" the community.

Fortunately, current state laws make it very difficult for them to do that and, so far anyway, state law supercedes the whims of local politicians looking for a broader tax base. No doubt the Utah State Legislature will visit this issue next session to ensure this remains true.

This court decision will be reversed one day, and not soon enough. One pundit said the fastest way to make this happen would be for a conservative state like Utah to use the ruling to turn an abortion clinic into a Wal-Mart!

Meanwhile, it seems like a good time to draw a line in the sand. Spread the word among local politicians and all of their professional associations they tend to hide behind that we, Utahns, will not allow even a whiff of this kind of thing in our communities.

---

Paul T. Mero is president of the Sutherland Institute, a conservative, non-profit public policy group.