In 1980, General Motors executives faced a dilemma regarding the construction of a new factory in Detroit, Michigan. GM intended to close two of its aging facilities and rebuild new assembly plants at a different site, although still in the Detroit metro area. The only land that met construction specifications was a settlement called Poletown, Michigan. This township was home to more than 3,500 residents, all of whom would have to be relocated if construction was approved. What follows is an analysis of this dilemma according to the four quadrants of the Executive Compass: Liberty, Equality, Community and Effectiveness. LibertyLiberty, as defined by JS Mill, "is to pursue our own good in our own way, as long as possible." for we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, nor to hinder their efforts to obtain it” (pp. 38-39). GM, without careful action, risks violating political and economic freedoms by exercising eminent domain powers in the 1980 Poletown, Michigan case. Eminent domain, the government-granted power authorizing the seizure of private property for public use, has been the source of political debate for centuries. Court cases ruling on different sides of the issue date back more than 167 years. The most recent case of note is Kole v. The City of New London, which was just decided by the United States Supreme Court in June 2005. Although the court ruled in favor of granting eminent domain, Justice O'Connor cited what follows in his dissent:: “Law which takes the property of A and gives it to B: It is contrary to all reason and all justice for a people to entrust such powers to a legislature. » The idea that government power should exceed that of individual rights is a cruel violation of political freedom. As The Executive's Compass states, “it degrades the dignity of the individual by subjecting him or her to the will of the state” (p. 39). If GM chose to remove Poletown's approximately 3,500 occupants from their homes, it would constitute a brutal assault on these residents' individual independence. Economic freedom is an ideal initiated at the end of the 18th century by the philosopher Adam Smith (p. 40). This area of ​​freedom concerns market freedom. It was Smith who declared in The Wealth of Nations that "the consumer is king", also insisting "that the government, by intervening in the market by granting mercantilist monopolies, has encouraged this injustice" (p..