Issue Position: Legislative Equality

Issue Position

I will never tolerate the division of American citizens along any lines and confront institutional discrimination in Congress. I will fight for one set of civil rights for ALL Americans.

Common Sense Principles: Legislative Equality

The Declaration of Independence affirms, "All men are created equal." Great Patriots throughout our history have struggled to make this vision into reality. Over the last few years, Americans have seen a regression back into inequality.

Congress has engaged in the practice of division of American citizens into economic classes. The precedent for this is nowhere in our American founding documents. Every reference to the citizens of the United States in The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution is simply "the people" with no division or separate classes ever stated. The concept of a divided population, split by economic class has its roots in Karl Marx' The Communist Manifesto, written in 1868.

The danger in this division occurs when politicians (or the President) use the federal government's power to tax to redistribute wealth. This has been masked with the deceptive terms "fair" and "fair share." For these terms to apply, it would have to follow that their private property was illegally gained. If someone has cheated, prosecute him. To confiscate wealth under this premise without due process of law is a civil rights violation. The Fifth Amendment of The Constitution states, "No person (notice no economic class) shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." The Seventh Amendment continues, "In suits at common law, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved." To eliminate any doubt, the Fourteenth Amendment asserts, "Nor shall any State deprive any person (again notice no divisive grouping) of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

It is pretty clear that there is one set of rules for ALL the people of the United States of America. In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified specifically to legally state equality under the law following the abolition of slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. The obvious moral and legal contradiction of class warfare is compounded by the unethical abuse of power. The economic class attacked is a numerical minority, without the voting power to stop this abuse. The implication that this entire group of citizens has cheated is a civil rights violation and bigotry. The use of taxation as an equalizing tool is denial of due process and institutional discrimination.

For Congress to legislate under the rubric "all men are created equal," Congress must also adhere to every person's God-given right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. To do this, Congress must operate from the perspective that American citizens are moral and good people. For instance, we do not assume Americans will murder unless we put a law in place to stop them. You cannot penalize a citizen for something they might do. Instead, we put laws in place to take liberty from those deviates that commit this crime. We prosecute the guilty. We do not preemptively sanction the innocent. This is not a choice, it is mandated by the Fifth Amendment in The Bill of Rights. "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." An individual must commit a crime to lose liberty or property.

When Congress arrogantly assumes they are operating from a higher moral plane than the people they represent, this will always result in bad legislation and discrimination, the loss of liberty or property by individuals who have not committed a crime. It is bad government.

I know Americans are moral, decent people. As your Congressman, I will never tolerate the division of American citizens along any lines and confront institutional discrimination in Congress. I will fight for one set of civil rights for ALL Americans.

Source