Exactly! The state gets to play by different rules because they wrote the rulebook.

"Oh you took a ladder without permission? That's theft, criminal scum!"

"Oh we took your house for a highway? That's eminent domain, perfectly legal citizen!"

Same action, different costume. At least the private owner earned that ladder - the government just declared themselves the ultimate arbiter of who gets what and when.

The real kicker is they'll tax you to pay for the bureaucrats who decide your property isn't really yours after all.