John Allison

The Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London upheld the city’s right to use eminent domain to take property from one private citizen and give it to another private citizen under the justification that the use under the recipient would generate higher tax revenues.  It was a very controversial decision sharply criticized my many who understand and value the importance of property rights in our society.

John Allison, CEO of BB&T, was horrified at the court’s assault on such a fundamental value.  He announced that BB&T would not make any loans to real estate developers to buy or improve any property acquired through eminent domain.

Did he worry about lost business?  The bank acquired thousands of depositors who stood with his values, and against the assault on property rights.

A businessman can stand by his values even when the government abandons theirs.

From I Am John Galt by Donald Luskin and Andrew Greta. The book is a comparison of modern day innovators and parasites compared to the characters of Ayn Rand’s novels.

Richard Cohen writes in the Washington Post “From John Edwards, lessons on celebrity and politics”

“- the lesson to be learned from the John Edwards affair. “We have substituted the camera — fame, celebrity — for both achievement and the studied judgment of colleagues.”

David Brooks warns of the “The Populist Addiction” in The New York Times.  ”

“voters aren’t as stupid as the populists imagine. Voters are capable of holding two ideas in their heads at one time: First, that the rich and the powerful do rig the game in their own favor; and second, that simply bashing the rich and the powerful will still not solve the country’s problems.”

The Supreme Court decision reversing McCain Feingold leaves a lot to consider. Many on the left are as outraged as the right was on Roe vs Wade. Jeff Jacoby tries to calm the storm in “Candidates, campaigns, and New Coke“ in The Boston Globe.

“But even those that do choose to advertise during an election cycle will not make the mistake so many of the court’s detractors are making. They know that Americans are not sheep, easily herded by means of clever commercials. If corporate advertising was irresistible, after all, we’d all be drinking New Coke.”

Finally I have an article at American Thinker:  “Why Elitists Fail.”

“Even the brightest minds cannot escape emotional impediments to a rational conclusion. Combining such emotional rationalism with a focus on theories detached from the verification of practical experience can be downright dangerous. This is why it concerns so many that Obama’s administration has the lowest number of appointees from the private sector in his cabinet of any president in history.”

And yesterday also at American Thinker : “Why Obama’s tax incentives for small business will backfire“

“Such micromanagement of the economy is not surprising from the moral supremacists who are more interested in  imposing their view of social justice than truly enabling the economy to allocate capital and create jobs.”

I greatly appreciate the numerous comments at American Thinker. They are thoughtful and worthy of your reading.

Thanks to all the visitors at Rebelyid.

The McCain Feingold bill sought to restrict the influence of big money in politics. Yesterday it was struck down as a violation of free speech. It should have been.

When one avenue of influence is cut off it just finds another road.  The restrictions of McCain Feingold just made lobbyists more valuable.  I would rather see organizations and individuals free to support who they want, but I would want to see full disclosure to the public to show where the money came from.

Obama’s first broken promise was to restrict his campaign to public financing.  McCain restricted his campaign to public financing and was killed by Obama’s record $750 million campaign. It was ironic that McCain’s campaign was killed by his own legislation.

Yet in spite of the disparity in the Obama / McCain Campaign, money in a political campaign reaches a critical mass where another dollar is largely ineffective.  You need a certain amount to run a campaign but beyond that it does not really buy that many votes. There are lots of campaigns that were outspent yet still won.

The real losers in this Supreme Court decision are the lobbyists. I consider their influence more sinister because there is no transparency in their actions. The real enemy is not money, it is secrecy.