My column last week explained how, Although the majority of America may desire something, the majority doesn’t rule, nor should it. The Constitution rules, regardless of the feelings of any majority. Our founding fathers made this the case so 51 percent of the people can’t oppress the other 49 percent. That is why we are guaranteed certain rights, which cannot be taken away by the opinions of the majority, and why the federal government has limited powers, regardless of the opinions of the majority.

Unfortunately, rule by Constitution is not something we often practice anymore.

Article 1, Section 8 of our Constitution says, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”

This means you can’t tax someone unless you tax everyone, and you tax them the same. Again, this is so that 51 percent of the people cannot force 49 percent of the people to pay for their way of life.

For example, although Christianity is the majority religion in the United States, it would not be acceptable for only non-Christian churches to pay property taxes.

Although whites are the most common race in the United States, it would not be acceptable for only non-whites to pay taxes. Although females are, or at least were 9 years ago according to the 2000 U.S. Census, the majority gender, it would not be acceptable for only males to pay taxes. Although the majority of people in America don’t have cancer, it would be unacceptable to create a special tax for chemotherapy.

Although the majority of people in America aren’t in college, it would be unacceptable to place a special tax on tuition. Although the majority of people in America don’t live in Iowa, it would be unacceptable for only Iowa residents to pay property taxes. Although the majority of people in America don’t own an Apple computer, it would be unacceptable to place a special tax on Apple computers … you get the idea.

But, since the majority of people in America aren’t smokers, politicians feel that they can get away with placing a special tax on cigarettes. They believe the majority will simply be happy that the taxes are being paid by the minority, thus leading to their reelections. What is sad is they are probably right.

In this country, we no longer seem to care that we are constantly oppressing minorities in order to have someone else pay our taxes. Instead, we justify it to ourselves by saying things like, “It’s good because it gets the government more money and will prevent people from smoking,” as one ISU student said in regard to the recent $.62 tax increase on cigarettes, according to the March 31 Daily article, “Faces in the crowd: What do you think about the new cigarette tax?”

The idea is that by taxing something, such as smoking, you can decrease the amount it happens. The basic principles of supply and demand will easily verify this as true.

But this sad justification is only an excuse to hide our greed. We simply want someone else to pay for our government programs.

We say we will tax smoking because we don’t want people to smoke, yet we also tax the productive — otherwise known as the rich — significantly more than the rest of the country. Is that because we don’t want people to be productive? That philosophy ought to bring us out of our economic crisis in no time. In reality, it is simply because the rich are a minority, so politicians can get away with it.

The cigarette tax is not about encouraging people to not smoke — it’s about encouraging people to pay for stuff that you don’t want to pay for yourself.

Although the majority of people are in the majority, the majority aren’t in every majority. So at some point, a majority will more than likely oppress you. If you don’t stand up for those being oppressed now, you should not expect them to stand up for you when it’s your turn.

— Blake Hasenmiller is a senior in industrial engineering and economics from De Witt.