Don’t tell Glenn Reynolds, but the huge wind-farm project he supports depends on … eminent domain.
Don’t anyone tell Glenn Reynolds; it might awaken him from his dogmatic slumber. But the Boone Pickens wind-energy project that Glenn is so delighted about in his role as honorary propeller-head (and which of course John McCain supports) is based on the idea of seizing huge amounts of private property for private use via eminent domain. That is, without the Kelo decision, which the glibertarians wanted to punish Justice Souter for by seizing his house this turkey of a proposal could never fly.
Admittedly, that’s a good anti-Kelo argument. But the fact that California wouldn’t steal people’s land to further enrich a politically connected billionaire, while Texas would, seems to me more a credit to California than it is to Texas.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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