If you’ve read my previous columns you know that I’ve tried to provide an objective analysis of some of the proposed policies of both presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain but certainly made it clear that I’ll be voting for McCain Nov. 4.
I think I’ve also made it clear
that I strongly believe in the
U.S. Constitution and the Bill
of Rights. For this column,
I’ll present more reasons why
I think McCain is the better
choice.
Obama has said he wants to
use the federal tax code to make
things “fair” by “spreading the
wealth around.” As a former
editor of the Harvard Law
Review, he has to understand
that this proposed policy runs
into constitutional trouble.
It clearly violates the Fifth
Amendment’s right of due process
by skipping indictment procedures,
the formal legal process
of accusing an individual of civil
or criminal wrongdoing and
public trial procedures, which
allows the accused to present
evidence on his behalf and face
the accuser. Using the federal
tax code to make things “fair”
involves only a pronouncement
of guilt and possibly unjust
punishment.
Certainly this isn’t the only
constitutional problem that
using the tax code to “spread
the wealth around” presents.
The Fourth Amendment
states, in part, “The right of
the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not
be violated.”
This establishes an individual’s
income to be private property.
Therefore, any withholdings
by the government without the
consent of the individual is a
direct and absolute violation of
the Fourth Amendment right of
privacy (I’ll stick with my long
held personal interpretation and
disagree with the authors of my
American government textbook
on this one).
To be fair to Obama, I must
admit that I haven’t heard
McCain talking about abolishing
the current tax code
and replacing it with what is
commonly referred to as the
Fair Tax, which already sits in
bill form in both houses of
Congress. I haven’t heard vice
presidential candidate Sarah
Palin say whether she supports
the Fair Tax.
Did you think I was going
to forget to question Obama’s
position on the Second
Amendment? No way. To be
honest, Obama has flip-flopped
too much on the issue.
However, I can’t see him going
against Chicago Mayor Richard
Daley. Just this past summer,
in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme
Court struck down a handgun
ban in Washington, D.C., and
confirmed that the right to keep
and bear arms belongs to individual
citizens. Certainly it is
not absolute. After all, fiveyear-
olds can’t judge the difference
between responsible and
irresponsible use of a weapon.
I do believe the phrase “shall
not be infringed” leave the states
very little room to regulate possession,
carry and use. Without
doubt, the state of Mississippi
does not have the authority
to ban guns from campus, as
the right of self-defense, for
all qualified individuals, reigns
superior to this unconstitutional
law.
I’m not sure exactly what
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
was getting at with the “special
places” comment in the previously
mentioned decision. I do
know he wasn’t anticipating a
potential future case over public
concealed carry being protected
by Fourth Amendment privacy
rights.
In conclusion, Obama’s policy
proposals represent a loss
of individual freedom and an
increase in inappropriate government
intrusions into the private
lives of its citizens. Barring
a protest vote for a third party
candidate, the candidate that
I determine to be the smallest
threat to the loss of individual
freedom will always earn my
support in an election. In this
presidential election, that is
clearly McCain, although the
loss of personal freedom from
government intrusion may only
be a matter of degrees this time
around.
Kerry Hunt is a parking services
officer at Mississippi State. He can
be contacted at [email protected].