What is a clear, objective definition of the “Public Good”? It’s cited all the time as the reason for laws, regulations, restrictions, etc. And as I’ve said before, it’s not a real idea. It cannot be. What is meant by “public good” is “aggreggate good,” by which they really mean “average quantifiable amounts of good.” Try that on for size.

I found a brief snip of this at dKos, and then at Cafe Hayek I found the linke to the article. It’s absolutely appalling, the idea that the government can seize your house and grant it then to another person (or corporate person, as the case may be) all while citing the “public good.” So how is the “public good” best served by displacing its constituents? Don’t they also comprise the public, for which this property seizure is to do so much good?

Marx and Lenin cite the “public good.” Hitler exterminated jews in the interest of the “public good.” The “public good” demands that we sacrafice our earnings, our abilities, our potential, in order that we may give something better to the less fortunate. Thus goes the theory of decreasing marginal utility…

The “public good,” what is it? I’ll tell you: It’s the subjugation of your lawful interest(s) in right(s) and/or property(ies) to the whimsical, unjustified, unrepresented desires and ideas of a larger and/or more influential citizen or group thereof.