No Eminent Domain for Flight 93 Memorial

Shanksville, PA. 9/11/01

from the:

Whether the federal government should be building a $58 million memorial to the heroic passengers on United flight 93, who thwarted the plot to crash a fourth plane on September 11, is a question that has yet to be asked in Washington. But it clearly is improper for the authorities to acquire land for the memorial through eminent domain.
Thankfully, Washington has backed down from its plans to seize the property.

The United 93 passengers embody the best of America. Commemorating their heroism should be done in a manner that best reflects the values they were defending.

When the National Park Service announced that it would seize the land from the seven property owners for the memorial rather than pay the landowners what they were asking for the lots, you didn’t have to be a libertarian to know something unjust was happening.

P.S.

I am not against a memorial for Flight 93. They were all heroes and need to be remembered. But at the same time, if the memorial is on private land, then that land needs to be paid for, not taken by the force of the Imperial Federal Government.