Petition to the European Parliament to introduce the death penalty for the rich
Submitted 03 January 2002. The petition was not considered, because the subject matter does not fall within the terms of reference of the European Parliament.
I request the European Parliament to NOTE:
- that the criminalisation of possession is a normal feature of criminal law,
- that member states of the European Union criminalise, among other things, the possession of explosives, unlicensed firearms, illegal drugs, child pornography, and contraband,
- that it is also normal to relate the penalty for illegal possession, to the quantity of illegal goods possessed,
- that the Republic of Singapore applies the death penalty for the possession of large quantities of illegal drugs, and that the European Union nevertheless continues to maintain friendly relations with the Republic of Singapore, and
- that the United States of America applies the death penalty on a large scale, and that the European Union nevertheless continues to maintain especially friendly relations with the United States of America.
I request the European Parliament to RESOLVE that inequality of wealth is inherently immoral, and that it is a general duty of any government, parliament, or legislature to end it.
I request the European Parliament to RECOGNISE:
- that inequality of wealth consists effectively in the possession of wealth by the rich, since the rich can easily choose not to possess their wealth, but the poor can not simply choose to become rich,
- that the failure of the rich to redistribute their wealth is equivalent to the deliberate maintenance of inequality,
- that the criminalisation of wealth is the appropriate response to this unethical behaviour, and
- that the penalty should be related to the amount of wealth possessed.
I therefore request the European Parliament to RESOLVE to introduce the death penalty for the possession of a personal wealth of more than one million Euro
- including wealth in the form of cash, precious metals, precious stones, works of art, residential properties for private use, and negotiable paper, but
- excluding the value of personally owned assets used in the production of goods or services, such as factories, workshops, machinery, vehicles, equipment, and agricultural land.