Posted by
Andrews on Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:46:14 PM
I know many have written on the punitive AIG taxes as unconstitutional bills of attainder, so I won't bother making that argument. However, I will make a more general argument, the argument that, whether or not bills of attainder,t eh taxes violate a general constitutional principle, the idea that the legislature exists to create a framework of uniform laws, while the courts exist to impose specific punishments for violations of the same.
And that is precisely what is wrong not only with these taxes, but with most of what congress does in modern times. Rather than create a framework of laws within which all must live, modern congress creates a regulatory framework which basically selects winner and losers. Look at the bailouts. Why should some homeowners get help while others do not? Why do some banks get free money while others do not? For that matter, why do some classes of business get help while some do not?
The purpose of the legislature was not, and should not be, the selection of winners and losers, but erecting a minimal framework of laws protecting us against the predation of malefactors foreign and domestic. The legislature's sole concern should be creating the legal framework which protects individual rights, and the courts should then enforce those laws in specific cases. That is the route to individual freedom.
Our current course leads to nothing but slavery. Think about it and it will be clear. if congress can confiscate wealth based not on a violation of law, but the impression something "wrong" took place, what limit is there to congressional power? What is to prevent them form dispossessing anyone? From imprisoning anyone? If the only protection is the need for public outcry, then one good propaganda campaign is all that stands between anyone and poverty, imprisonment or death.
A minimal government, enacted impersonally, and enforced by juries of our peers is consistent with individual liberty. A government which is nothing but a rubber stamp for mob rule is not.