It’s funny, upon reading this article I felt two very distinct emotions. One was sadness, and the other was extreme pride. The sadness comes from the three hundred and fifty thousand individuals who are being relocated for this massive project that’s being implemented in the region. Think about that, that’s three hundred and fifty thousand lives changed and altered in an instant. Not by there own hands, and not by there own choices, but merely because someone decided it was for the better good. It’s that old Star Trek saying quoted so many times before, “the need of the many out weigh the need of the few” (Yes!!! I know I just quoted Star Trek). Perhaps that’s just the truth of the matter, perhaps that’s just the way it is. The northern part of china is going through a manager drought, and water is desperately needed, and in comparison to the number of individuals who would benefit from these project, certainly a mere three hundred and fifty thousand is an after thought. Then again, it doesn’t really pass the gut check. Instead of controlling northern China’s population growth preventing the shortage of water to the region, the choice was made to ruin lives rather then business. Well, at least there getting compensated for a necessary action is one thought, but are they really? Farmers losing profitable farm lands for land that isn’t even fertile. Home owners losing valuable property in exchange for poorly built ones. As with most seizers of property of land involving government, the original owners rarely ever get fair value for there property. It’s sad, it’s tragic, and unjust. This is nothing more then seizer of property for economic gain. After polluting the northern Chinese regions water supply, and allowing overpopulation in the northern cities to escalate to the point were there water supplies are depleted, was simply irresponsible. Now, the notion that water could simply be borrowed from a different locations while simultaneously dislocating and ruining hundreds of thousands of lives without fair compensations is outrages, and unjust.
This thought brings me to the second emotion I felt, which was pride. Pride that this could never happen in America. That our government would never be so bold, that our citizens would never be so blind to let such an act ever happen… or would it? The truth is somewhere in between, in most likelihood something of this magnitude would never happen in the “present United States”, (You history buffs would tell me otherwise if I didn’t include the world present). However, the word Eminent Domain pops into my head. Perhaps us patriotic American’s need to ask ourselves one very important question, if our government had the need and will to do what the Chinese government is proposing now, would they? Before answering that question look at the articles I’m providing you below and you might just be surprised just how far our government has already taken that thought.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/world/asia/02water.html?ref=asia (Main Article)
http://www.castlecoalition.org/component/content/article/512
http://www.castlecoalition.org/pdf/publications/floodgates-report.pdf
(look at page 67 for info on Jersey
