“Their conduct has no place in a civil society.” So said acting U.S. District Attorney Michael Gunnison of Ed and Elaine Brown, a couple from Plainfield, New Hampshire, who after being convicted in absentia – they refused to attend the court proceedings — in early 2007 for refusal to file or pay federal income tax, barricaded themselves in their home and vowed to defend themselves to the death if necessary, against any attempts by government agents to arrest them. They were subsequently arrested in October, 2007, by U.S. marshals posing as supporters. Gunnison made the above comment after the Browns were recently convicted on a wide range of further charges, ranging from possession of illegal explosives and firearms, to plotting the murders of federal agents. Before making that statement however, Gunnison said this: “By rejecting the rule of the law and substituting a personal code involving weapons, explosives, and threats, the defendants committed increasingly serious crimes.”
The basis of the Browns’ resistance all along was that they were committing no crimes. Their contention was that there exists no government law that makes Americans liable for income taxes. While there is an impressive preponderance of evidence to suggest that this in fact so, ultimately it is irrelevant – except perhaps top demonstrate the utterly corrupt and brutal nature of government itself.
A government law is merely the opinion of a group of politicians. It certainly is not an innate property of the universe, such as gravity, say. These opinions are then backed by whatever level of force is necessary to make everyone within a certain arbitrary geographical boundary comply. So “rejecting the rule of the law” – which the Browns maintained they did not do by refusing to pay income tax in any case – is merely rejecting the opinions of those who arrogate dominion over the lives, liberty, and property of others without having first gained express consent to do so. In other words, to reject a government law is to merely reject thievery, extortion, and blackmail. It’s hard to see anything ignoble about such rejection.
Further, the Browns’ initial actions violated no one’s life, liberty, or property. Their refusal to pay taxes – for whatever reason – was a mere peaceful withdrawal of support for government. Their subsequent acquisition of weapons to defend their lives, liberty, and property from further government aggression was only a natural and fundamental human response to the escalation of violence initiated against them by the government agents. After all, if government is so good and necessary, and if income taxation is so vital to the financing of it, why must government use force and violence to coerce people into paying? Why not simply ask people to voluntarily give part of their earnings to government for all of the wonderful things it allegedly provides? In fact, the IRS themselves claim that the income tax system is based on “voluntary compliance.” If this is so, why were U.S. marshals, BATFE agents, FBI, New Hampshire State Police SWAT teams, county sheriff’s deputies, local police, and even New Hampshire national guardsmen dispatched to either arrest or kill Ed and Elaine Brown?
I think the message is rather clear when it’s thought through using rationalism and logic: “Their conduct has no place in a civil society.” Michael Gunnison had no business saying this about the Browns. It was a statement that more aptly applies to himself, and anyone and everyone else in government.
In civilized society, if you have a point to make about the legitimacy of taxation, you show up and make it at the hearing. If you want to have an uncivilized society then you can ignore these things. Civilization means civil government and rules that everyone follows. If you don’t like the regime, you don’t have to live within its borders. To say that laws are simply a creature of politicians is sophistry and fairy tale anarchism.
Living in fairy tales does not help get rid of government.
As far as keeping arms with the specific purpose of resisting the government – that’s really not civilized either. That’s just plain stupid – more fairly tale anarchism. One could not get away with such bullshit in pre-Columbian society either. Someone is always dominant. Keeping weapons to resist them may invite their notice – especially if you owe them what ever payment they desire to leave you alone.
Anyone who thinks that the human species does not have inbred domination-submission behaviors is not paying attention, or just plain stupid, like Mr. & Mrs. Brown.
Michael, with all due respect, one does not show up in a star chamber to contest the very lifeblood of the parasites running that star chamber. It's been done any number of times, and more often than not, with poor results to say the least. There is nothing civilized about any of that. The free market is civilized, and provides many rules everyone must follow if they wish to succeed and prosper, yet no one's liberty is violated by a market. Finally, the idea that "someone is always dominant" is a neanderthal mentality. Governments survive because of social and psychological conditioning — not because there's some genetic flaw in the human brain. Hitler tried selling that bullshit, and look at what happened. People dumped his insane theories by breaking free of sophistry and psy-conditioning. Now, humanity just has to go the rest of the way, and hasn't already because the nea-sayers like you have heretofore simply outnumbered the sane and rational among us. Now, we're working to change that…and slowly getting results.
It is interesting to note that not once has the IRS ever actually shown the law, in black & white, that says privately employed American Citizens owe this thing called "Income Tax. . . . Nor has any court/judge, attorney, or tax professional.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteenth_Amendment_…
You people are all idiots. I am as close to minimalist as it can get, but to argue that it is not legal is the worst argument of all of them. And yes, I agree that threatening people with guns and explosives has no place in a civilized society. Peaceful resistance yes, armed violence no.
Also, the idea that a free market infringes no ones rights is silly. All it does is replace government with money. Placing the importance of money above all else just institutes a different kind of slavery than owed to the government.
@Longtiem — re: free market — Your comparison, as written, is between two sets of people and their methods. Comparing one set of people themselves ("government") to the methods used by the other ("money") is thus not a rational comparison. That's an apples and oranges sort of thing.
Doing so doesn't make an actual point but, instead, persuades only by means of vague emotional associations with the words used.
Government is people and so is the market. Peaceful exchange of value for value (often but not always money) is the method used by the market. The definitive method of government is force or the threat of it. So, no, replacing death threats (government methods) with voluntary cooperation (market methods) does not and can not, by definition, be a form of slavery.
This is because most people don't know that the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK is not owned, operated, or in any way regulated by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. The Federal Reserve Bank is owned by private bankers, who were contracted by the Federal Government to provide the currency for this nation.
Your Federal Income Tax goes literally into the hands of International Bankers to pay the debt of them providing the currency. You work for roughly 4 months a year as a slave, for no wages, to pay these bankers for their services.
For every dollar that the federal reserve bank creates out of nothing but paper and ink and LOANS to the federal government, interest is charged on that dollar, so when it comes time to pay back the loan, you owe that initial dollar value + the interest owed on the loan. So where do you get the money to pay the interest? By more loans.. with more interest..
This is why we will never get out of debt.. Its impossible.. Simply Impossible.. Whats most shocking about this is.. Every American has been enslaved and expected to try to work off this debt that is impossible to pay… The easiest way to enslave a nation is by making them think their free..
so in your so-called civilized society the armed violence is only allowed state side?
because that is exactly what's going on here, any threats or violence in response to this is clearly in self defense