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Eminent Domain: Where the Right and Left Commune

A spirited dinner conversation with visiting (conservative) parents and and local (liberal) descendents attacked the question of the role of government in a free market democratic society. The conversation started at a theoretical level, with one of the conservatives relaying the wisdom of an F.A. Hayek, a philosopher and economist of the Austrian School, who might be considered a libertarian by today's labels. One of the liberals asked for some specific examples of the alleged dangers and loss of freedom associated with increased government. This led to a debate about nationalized health care. No common ground. Then a conversation about national defense. Less common ground.

And then, one of the conservatives suggested the example of the 2005 Supreme Court decision that expanded the reach of eminent domain to include seizure of private property to make way for private development that would benefit the community. Aha! Here was something the local liberals and the out-of-town conservatives could agree upon! Eminent domain, as witnessed by the locals in the case of evil developer Bruce Ratner and his Atlantic Yards project, is bad. It stomps on the rights of little citizens for the benefit of rich developers, with questionable benefits for the community as a whole. And for the conservatives, it tramples on the ever-sacred individual rights of the citizen as property owner.

It was a beautiful moment of common ground. One of the liberals found herself momentarily surprised to be side-by-side with the C's on this one—a cause celebrated by all the dyed-in-the-wool Brooklyn liberals. In recent years, she had forgotten about old-school conservatives, becoming much more accustomed to Republicans who favor big business and profit interests over governmental restraint. Oh Halliburton, how you've changed us all.

"She's got...like...pre-cancerous cells"

Every time I go out to bars on a Saturday night in Manhattan (a relatively rare occurence in my Brooklyn thirtysomething lifestyle) I always come back with a good story. Last night, at a West Village joint called Dublin 6, the downstairs bathroom was where it was at.

It was about midnight and the fairly young bridge-and-tunnel crowd was on their way to being fairly-well sauced. I walked into the 2-stall room to hear Catty Girl #1 explaining to Catty Girl #2: "Yeah, she's got, like, pre-cancerous cells," she said as she gestured towards her nether regions. CG #2 "Yeah, HPV! Oh God." There was a certain delight in their voices as they relished the unfortunate circumstance of the HPV girl. CG#3 entered the conversation with an all-knowing, it's-time-for-compassion tone. "I know, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I really wouldn't. I wouldn't wish that on anybody." CG#1 and CG#2 slipped in to an open stall together. CG#3 continued to pity the HPV girl.

Meanwhile, in the shared stall, CG#1: "I mean, you get that from having unprotected sex." CG#2: "Yeah, she's a whore!" CG#3 on the outside: "But I wouldn't wish that on anybody though."

I really wanted to jump in here with: "Look, girls, according to the statistics, you all probably have HPV too! So get off your ignorant high horse and get yourself a pap smear before you get your own set of pre-cancerous cells!" But I did not. By the point another girl had walked in with tears running down her face, CG#1 had started going on about how bored she was with the sex life in her marriage, and CG#3 had turned her apparent-expertise-on-all-things to the crying girl, explaining that "Mark is just that way when he gets drunk and you have to just forget about it. I know because I've been there."

But the whole exchange reminded me how far HPV (the human papillomavirus) has to go in the ranks of STD public consciousness before it gets its proper due. For some reason HPV is a late bloomer in this regard. It's been around forever, but was never mentioned in health class alongside HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, etc. So although health teachers and public health campaigns can be credited with much increased awareness about STDs over the course of my lifetime, HPV has slipped through the cracks. And that sucks, because it's the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the world and it happens to cause cervical cancer.

About eight out of ten women will have HPV by age 50. Most women and men don't even know they have it. It often goes away on its own, or is a benign strand. HPV has gotten a little more public attention lately thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, which has been running ads for the new HPV vaccine (effective for girls aged 9-26 to prevent 4 of the most virulent HPV strains). There is a lot that doctors and researchers still don't know about HPV (does it ever totally go away after you treat it, how to completely prevent its transmission other than abstinence). The good news is that cervical cancer is highly treatable and preventable, with regular pap smears and the HPV test. Now if the public health industry can just catch up to Big Pharma (please tell me there's an alternative to profit-driven enlightentment!) in educating the public about the disease, we'll be headed in the right direction.

Meanwhile back in shared stall. CG#2: Oh my God, I love your wax, where did you get it done?" CG#1: I go to the Asians. They do a good job."