Theft

Every two weeks, a sneak thief takes something of value from me (theft: taking without my freely-given consent). In most states, this act constitutes grand theft, because the value of the appropriation exceeds $400. In addition, four times a year this thief deprives me of several thousand dollars all at once. Twice a year, my state compounds this felony by collecting a tax on the imputed worth of my automobiles at registration renewal, over and above the licensing fees.

Oh, you don't think taxation is theft. Why would that be?

Is is because the levying and collection of taxes is permitted by the fourth amendment? Not really; the due process clause refers to proper court proceedings, not to mere enactment of statutes by Congress and the legislatures. Is it because the same act is permitted by the sixteenth amendment? Now you are closer, but since the federal taxation is progressive, it runs afoul of the equal protection clause.

As to the state's property tax, that's a lost cause. There is nothing in the U. S. Constitution that prohibits states from taxing income or wealth, so long as the taxes do not violate the equal protection clause.

Lawyers will disagree with both of the preceding paragraphs. They believe the acts of Congress and the courts to trample the promise of equal treatment under Constitution have been allowed by case law, and that the status quo is completely lawful. But if one sets aside the craft of lawyering and thinks clearly about what is really happening in this nation, it becomes very clear that a great many of our citizens are being gravely wronged by our government.

We must all admit that some government is necessary. Men are not angels, and this would be a poor nation and a challenging place to live without the armed forces to protect us from foreign enemies and police to protect us from the criminals among us. The Founders envisioned specific responsibilities for the federal government, chiefly related to protecting our borders and preventing internal commercial mischief among the states. To accomplish these duties the Constitution provides for certain excises and Customs duties. Only when Congress acquired a taste for dominion over the states did the need arise for a large federal budget.

Sadly, that taste for power now extends far beyond the suppression of states' rights into the control of the wallets, diets, habits, education, and every other public and private aspect of citizens' rights. And, like sheep to be sheared, Americans wait dumbly to be deprived of their wealth and their freedom.

Taxation is theft. Nothing about paying taxes is voluntary. If you do not submit, men with guns will take everything you have. Now, you can search in vain through the Constitution for the vesting of police power in the federal government. But that government grew a lot of police power in the 20th Century, and it's not through growing. Armed agents have the power to freeze your assets, take your real property, and jail you if you don't give them what they say you owe. Their position is that you are subject to the laws and regulations of the federal government, regardless of whether you could or did vote for the folks who enacted them. No judge will hear any argument to the contrary. So, in fact, you are a serf to the government, or you are an outlaw.

The majority of persons in the United States are not victims of progressive taxation. While they may pay sales taxes on purchases, direct or indirect property tax on the place they live, and tax on their income for "Social Security" and "Medicare," they pay no federal income tax. The majority of wage earners pay nothing in income tax. This may be the reason that politicians can so easily seduce voters with entitlements. If I won't pay for it, why shouldn't I approve of federally funded (fill in the blank)?

Folks, Obama and the Congress have levied a 50% tax on everything you earn and possess! It's called inflation, and it is coming right at us all like a freight train. Since January 20, the federal government has doubled the money supply. That means the dollar in your pocket will shortly buy 50 cents worth of goods. Why are oil prices rising? Speculation? Nope, just dealers realizing that when they are paid in the future for delivery of that oil, they will be paid in dollars worth less than they are now. About the only thing you may own that won't be hammered by inflation is a commodity like precious metal, raw food stock, or land. These will fluctuate with the general level of economic activity in the land, but will generally keep pace with inflation, for their underlying worth will not change.

But the value of your labor is not immune to the cheapening effect of inflation. As the economy suffers the dislocation of wealth that takes place when currency value falls, your salary and tips won't keep pace with inflation. The value of your stocks, interest earnings, and dividends will lag behind inflation. You will be poorer, because inflation is the tax that attacks everyone.

This is the greatest theft of all. Obama is just fine with it. After all, we can't just keep driving our SUVs and set our thermostats at 72 when the rest of the world is poorer than we are. We need to spread the wealth around. We need to be as poor as they are. We need to pay back the terrible wrongs we did to our Islamic fellow beings in the Middle East. We need to befriend the regimes that hate America and the freedom we formerly cherished and shared with others. We need to become more like the dictatorships in Cuba, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

And we are, day by day.

To all you Obama voters: Thanks a bunch. Go straight to Hell, and the sooner the better!