Think that you actually own the property you have a title to? Well, think again. The National Parks Service has just announced that they will begin condemning land surrounding the Flight 93 crash site in order to meet their “need” for a 2,200 acre memorial site. 2,200 acres. For a single memorial. As a comparison, the National Mall covers less than 310 acres, and contains the following:
- The Washington Monument
- The National Museum of American History
- The National Museum of Natural History
- The National Museum of Art Sculpture Gallery
- The National Gallery of Art
- The United States Capitol Building
- The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
- The National Botanic Garden
- The National Museum of the American Indian
- The National Air and Space Museum
- The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- The Arts and Industries Building
- The Smithsonian Institution Building
- The Freer Gallery of Art
- The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- The National Museum of African Art
- The National World War II Memorial
- The Lincoln Memorial
Mount Rushmore, gigantic faces carved into the side of a mountain, covers less than 1,280 acres. But the National Parks Service has determined that the Flight 93 memorial requires 2,200 acres or roughly the same total amount of land as the city in which I grew up; a city of nearly 5,000 people. I understand the desire to have a memorial at the Flight 93 crash site. I even think that it’s a good idea. But 2,200 acres is clearly ridiculous.
Even ignoring the acreage excess, the fact that the National Parks Service is reneging on earlier promises not to use eminent domain is unconscionable. This is land that people have had in their families for generations. Land whose confiscation would require, in some cases, the current owner to relocate his business, at great expense. All because the National Parks Service cannot be satisfied with “only” 1,700 acres (more acreage already than the National Mall and Mount Rushmore combined).
We can all agree that the passengers on Flight 93 were indeed heroes, but these passengers were acting to defend the individual freedom for which this country stands. Using the government to forcibly confiscate individual property is no way to honor the sacrifice that they made.