From Paul Voegeli
Monroe
To the editor:
A referendum sponsored by the group called the Green County United to Amend will appear on our April 3 ballot. That referendum calls for an amendment to the United States Constitution that would provide that corporations or similar entities would have NO Constitutional rights whatsoever. In that regard, I would like to pose the following questions to all Green County farmers and business owners who operate their businesses as a corporation (including media organizations), a Bank, a Co-op, an LLC or an LLP:
1. Would you be happy if the government could come into your place of business and inspect and seize your business records without a search warrant? (Protection against that is now provided by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.)
2. Would you be happy if the government brought criminal charges against your business and lost the case but could then refile the same identical charges again and again and retry the case over and over until it won? (Protection against that is now provided by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.)
3. Would you be happy if the government could take your business property without going to Court and without fairly compensating you? (Protection against that is now provided by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.)
4. Would you be happy if your business was sued and it could not demand a trial by jury? (That is a right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution.)
5. If you are a media corporation, would you be happy if the government could censure everything and anything that you intended to print or broadcast? (Protection against that is now provided by the First Amendment to the Constitution.)
If you answered "Yes" to the foregoing questions, then you obviously put little value on Constitutional protections and will want to vote in favor of the referendum. However, if you answered "No" to any one of the questions, then you do value your Constitution rights, and I think that it is clear how you will want to vote on the referendum.
Monroe
To the editor:
A referendum sponsored by the group called the Green County United to Amend will appear on our April 3 ballot. That referendum calls for an amendment to the United States Constitution that would provide that corporations or similar entities would have NO Constitutional rights whatsoever. In that regard, I would like to pose the following questions to all Green County farmers and business owners who operate their businesses as a corporation (including media organizations), a Bank, a Co-op, an LLC or an LLP:
1. Would you be happy if the government could come into your place of business and inspect and seize your business records without a search warrant? (Protection against that is now provided by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.)
2. Would you be happy if the government brought criminal charges against your business and lost the case but could then refile the same identical charges again and again and retry the case over and over until it won? (Protection against that is now provided by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.)
3. Would you be happy if the government could take your business property without going to Court and without fairly compensating you? (Protection against that is now provided by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.)
4. Would you be happy if your business was sued and it could not demand a trial by jury? (That is a right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution.)
5. If you are a media corporation, would you be happy if the government could censure everything and anything that you intended to print or broadcast? (Protection against that is now provided by the First Amendment to the Constitution.)
If you answered "Yes" to the foregoing questions, then you obviously put little value on Constitutional protections and will want to vote in favor of the referendum. However, if you answered "No" to any one of the questions, then you do value your Constitution rights, and I think that it is clear how you will want to vote on the referendum.
