Preserving The American Political Philosophy

During the election campaign Trump advocates sold Trump as a better executive to appoint US Supreme Court Justices than Hillary Clinton. I responded by citing Donald Trump's support for the Kelo vs New London Supreme Court decision ,which Trump praised as 100% correct.  Kelo v. City of New London,1 545 U.S. 469 (2005) was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another private owner to further economic development. In a 5–4 decision, the Court held that the general benefits a community enjoyed from economic growth qualified private redevelopment plans as a permissible "public use" under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. In effect Kelo vs New London says the big businesses like Trump Entertainment Industries, employing more that 1000 can override the constitutional property rights of other Americans for the purpose of economic development. SUSOETTE KELO E...

In an article in todays PPH,  Republicans charge House Speaker with conflict of interest.   , there is a discussion of legislative conflicts of interests.  The article is centered around House Speaker, Mark Eves allegated conflict of interest in the expansion of Medicaid (Maine Care) Last week, 26 House Republicans signed a letter requesting that House Speaker Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, recuse himself from voting on a bill that would expand Medicaid, the publicly funded health insurance program for the poor. The freedom to legislate in areas in which conflicts of interests exists is openly defended by Rep. Lance Harvell, R-Farmington, who said he refused to sign the letter.  "If we start down that road, there isn’t going to be anybody in this damn place who can vote,” The article then cites various instance of conflict of interest covering a range of situations. But if the legislature itself abides by the laws written by that body - it should be s...