UPDATE:The Official Petition will be available as of Midnight July 18. Original signature (i.e. names that will appear on the petition) will be accepted until then.

UPDATE: This post will be updated as original signatures are added and will be bumped to the top of the page until the online petition is launched.

It is time to move on to the next level. Which means time to stop writing and start promoting. Below is the letter that will be the online petition. This should go live probably mid to late next week depending on the day job.

Any one interested in being an original signatory to the letter let me know in the comments or email.

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.

Stephen R. Macklin
Fairfield, Connecticut

Eric Cowperthwaite
Elk Grove, California

Dawn Cowperthwaite
Elk Grove, California

Robert W. Jones
Bridgeport, Connecticut

Adrian L. Quince
Novato, California

Robert Bell
Atlanta, GA

Stephen Littau
Glendale, AZ

Lee Merrill
Hudson, NH

Thomas D. Bowler
Nashua, NH

T. F. Stern
Houston, Texas

Robert Flournoy
Virginia Beach, Virginia

(your name here)

Here is a small version of the Open Source graphic that you can use to promote the amendment.

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Draught

Technorati Tags: Eminent Domain, Kelo, Property Rights, property-rights

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 06:01 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment