How to Build A Country
I learned yesterday that from its founding up to about two years ago, Singapore had a law in place that made it very easy for the government to find land for its many infrastructure and housing projects. I forget the name of it, but it was basically emminent domain – the gov’t could take any land, with or without compensation, as long as it would be used for national development. (Probably called the National Development Law) Can you imagine the kerfluffle if such a thing were to exist in modern America? I guess it did exist in the 19th century, in the guise of Indian land takeovers, the Homesteaders’ Act, etc., but to take a place that’s already parceled out under a current legal system and declare that people only own their land as long as it’s out of the way of roads, trains, apartment and sewage projects – now that’s something! No wonder it’s been possible to build infrastructure so fast.