The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-08-06
The Fifth Amendment
What Does It Mean?

person be subject for the same
Offense to be twice put IN
jeopardy of life or limb, nor
shall be compelled in any crini-
nal case to be witness against
himself, nor be deprived Of life.
liberty. or property without due
process Of law; nor shall private
property be taken for public use
without just compensation.
When you read it all, you
quickly see that the Fifth
Amendment, like the entire Bill
of Rights, was drawn to protect
not just those who are accused
or suspected of a crime, but to
protect all persons and tn eir
liberty. and their property, and
their personal privacy from ar
bltrary excuses of government
al power. In so many words,
therefore, the Fifth Amendment
is a positive affirmation of the
right to liberty, the right to pri-
way, and the right to acquire
and own property.
Now it so happens that many
OF the people who, in cent
years, invoked the protection of
the Fifth Amendment before
Congressional committees are,
or have at one time been Com
munists. But Communism is an
OF everything that the FIT t h
official and categorical denial
Amendment affirms. There is 70
right Of personal privacy or per-
sonl liberty under Communism.
The primary objective of Com
munism is the abolition of pri-
vate property. The first act of
every Communist government is
to confiscate all private proper
ty. without any compensation
whatsoever to its owners.
Under Communism, the invo-
cation of any portion of the Fifth
Amendment would be rank trea-
son, Subjecting the witness to
immediate liuidation. What the
Communist witness invokes,
therefore, when he pleads the
Fifth Amendment, is rot tn e
Fifth Amendment at all, but
merely IA words of it which en-
ables him to escape self-incrimi-
nation OF the charge of conspir-
ing to destroy everything else
that the Fifth Amendment es-
tablishes.
The surprising thing is not the
constant reliance on the protec- :
ton of the Fifth Amendment by
the Communist witnesses. The
thing is the noticeable
consistency in the arguments of
those liberal" intellectuals who
charitably forgive the silence of
F f h Amendment witnesses.
/ h e e apologists deny the
Of a Congressional
committee to expose" anybody
or anything that the expoxee
continues to regard as
a mere political belief They
contend that all Communist in
designations should be left to the |
FBI. They overlook the fact that /
he FBI can neither expose nor
anybody for anything
It can merely investigate and
PASS on its information to Of
.icials who have the power to
axe action.
People who wish to remain sill
mt on the subject of Com
nunism have a right to plead
he Fifth Amendment, but they
HAVE NO Constitutional right to
'enlain in the service of tn e
Government, or to
each our children or to COM
nand the respect of their fellow
citizens. Governments of tn e
states and of the United States
lave a right and a duty to deny
public employment to persons
whose loyalty to the Constitution
s brought into question by the
persons themselves. This was
veil said by Oliver We dell
Holmes when he was a Justice
If the Massachusetts Supreme
Court.
There is nothing in the Con-
;tltution or the statute to pre-
cent the city government from
attaching obedience to this rule
Is a condition to the office OF
policeman. The petitioner may
lave a Constitutional right to
ak politics. but he has no Con
'titutional right to be police
nan
In its entirety, the Fifth
Amendment describes a large
part of our philosophy of free
iom. For that reason we should
III be for the Fifth Amendment.
ust as we should all be against
he Communist conspiracy.