explanation of federal tax

      To everyone with a concern about states rights activism



   This letter is to address a paradox of American citizenship.
   I prefer to be an American National rather than a United States Citizen.
I define the first term to mean one who OWES allegiance to the physical land
of America and the other private citizens that share it. I define the second
term to mean one who has PLEDGED allegiance to the national government of
America, the corporate entity or business that manages America. I think of
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as a deliberate business contract, by
implication, between all of us, which, like any contract, imposes
responsibilities on all participants. It is my view that U.S. Citizenship is
another business contract, by which a person can declare theirself subject to
those agencies which can relieve them of these responsibilities, using rules.
   I use the term "United States" as it is used in the tenth amendment,
entirely a separate entity from "the States" and "the People". U.S.
citizenship is like arranging the national government to be like a lawyer on
retainer handling all issues with other people. This lets us grow estranged
from each other and just obey orders.
   Voting and jury duty are a real concern in this matter since they are
presently permitted only by U.S. Citizens.I believe this is in the public
interest. Only national issue elections get high voter turnout, so it
seems fair to say that the American public is interested in finding a
majority to join that will approximately push their personal style onto
the land we share, rather than honoring a clear definition of sovereign
boundaries. For example many Oregonians want at least an indirect part
in deciding where someone in Michigan can drive their snowmobile. So any-
one in Michigan who is not limited by contract with the federal government
is not permitted to vote in any election at all. From this view the federal
political apparatus is like a one party system, the essence of fascism,
for me a disturbing prospect.
   My ideal is for citizen voting be at the county level only, since I
and almost none of the people I know can make an unquestionably informed
decision about any broader issue. The original U.S.Constitution limited
citizen voting to the state level.
   I also believe politics would be more honored by the general public
if any resolution lacking a clear three quarter majority was delegated to
the next lower rank of government, more honored even by the environmental-
ists and civil rights people. If the lowest rank of government could not
arrive at a three quarter majority I would have the issue dropped entirely.
   Relating to present voting law I have an impression that the electoral
process is an organized badhearted catfight over matters of minor import.
The issues in ecology and human aesthetics that capture my emotions are
voted on with money and hobby effort. What inspires the willingness to
work is where I see a true yeah vote, not a vote against the lesser evil.
It is that sort of election I am inspired to study, lobby in, and make my
vote deliberate in.
   The complete abolition of government, advocated by the Voluntaryist
organization, is a bad idea to me. I have read some accounts of Celtic
and north American Indian anarchical culture that were quite terrifying.
King Arthur apparently became a legend for ending a savage world in the
British Isles where totally senseless armies related to mild people like
me as being delightful prey, to kill and rob. In a governed world the
ruffians are tricked by advertizing into mostly attacking each other in
the electoral process or the big scale economy. Scientific research and
art can progress quietly, out of reach of the riot. That the ruffians
sometimes discover the trick and use government groups for their raids
on kind people is to me not a reason to question government, though it
is a reason to stay out of government involvement. I agree though with
the Voluntaryists that, at its root, government is a sick concept.
   I think the original purpose and blessing of the U.S. Constitution was
to preserve the greatest possible human face to government by keeping it
as local as possible through the deliberate declaration of responsibility
for personal matters to be outside of federal oversight.
   The citizen responsibilities of the U.S. Constitution, as I understand
them, are as follows. With each part of the "Bill of Duties" I include
the original wording and my assessment of how the federal government eases
the burden using rulemaking and organized activities (like a school).
 *****
    Amendment Ia: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to suspend judgment of other people's methods
and devices that they use to manipulate their own emotions, within an
established organization. Also, all Citizens must address their personal
confusion about religious matters without government help.
-
AND: the federal government has evolved a consensus religious presence in
all areas of the public with holy days, mind altering substance rituals,
titles of nobility, military idols and a long list of declared expressive
sins.
 *****
    Amendment Ib:{Congress shall make no law} abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press.
-
OR: All citizens are on their own for maintaining psychic self defense in
the public and in perusing the media.
-
AND: The federal government has taken responsibility for so many petty local
issues that any nuisance appeal can be validly referred to it and, if appro-
priate, lost in committee. The commercial kind of psychic rape makes a lot
of tax money; the government has been loathe to limit it much so it remains
a local issue.
 *****
     Amendment Ic: {Congress shall make no law abridging} the right of the
people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress
of grievances.
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to tolerate parties of any size or nonviolent
variety, and respect any petition from such a group to the government.
-
AND: The federal government has established enough contractual complexity on 
all branches and levels of government and on commercial venues to be able to 
limit, through red tape, any unpopular nuisance assembly, but for the most
part it appears to not be a source of trouble.
 ***** 
     Amendment II: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security
of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed.(1982 Report of U.S.Senate Committee on the Constitution)
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to respect small scale political power
obtained by weapons. For an example see the story of the battle in Athens,
Tennessee in the late 40's.
-
AND: The federal government has established several huge standing armies and
national emergency legislation through which to terrorize or destroy any
small scale military effort.
 *****
     Amendment III: No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any
house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner
to be proscribed by law.
-
OR: All citizens must permit a tax burden on their economy to finance the
housing of soldiers.
-
  The federal government has let this stand.
  *****
     Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to
be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
     Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand
Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the
Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall
any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of
life or limb; 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.
     Amendment VI: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the
right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and
district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall
have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted by witnesses against him; to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have
the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
     Amendment VII: In suits of common law, where the value in controversy
shall excede twenty dollars (twenty ounces of silver, about $110 not twenty
Federal Reserve Notes), the rightof trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the
United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
-
OR: All citizens have a duty to tolerate the huge tax burden and tedium of
due process of common law in the prosecution of criminals, and antisocial 
people. They shall also accept any call to participate as a juror, and will
take personal responsibility for mandating the law that the accused is being
tried for breaking (right of Jury nullification).
-
AND: The federal government has created tax and law enforcement agencies
armed with intentionally bewildering rhetoric, paperwork and threatening
representatives that can efficiently wreck an antisocial person's life
without arresting them. The federal government has also established a
permanent state of national emergency (through national public debt and
invention of the federal reserve note), formally declared martial law within
it's corporate boundaries, and invented the social security system and
federal grant programs to seduce or harass all citizens and local
governments into becoming part of the federal corporation; thus most crimes
have been converted into contract violations, prosecuted solely by a judge.
 *****
     Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
-
OR: All citizens have a duty to accept the freedom of unusually upsetting 
petty criminals.
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AND: The federal government ,and all the lower governments, have invented a 
massive list of procedural crimes that the police will enforce in behalf of
a complaining majority of citizens.
 *****
 Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall 
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to respect unwritten but reasonable expecta-
tions held by a clear and overwhelming majority of the public. In my
understanding, this amendment is a declaration of sovereignty of "the people"
over both governments and individuals, in support of my view that sovereignty
originates from the uninstitutionalized social arena. Most writings of
sovereign people appear to me to deny this, even to deny that such an arena
exists. I hold the premise that the natural social arena is the creator that
granted the "inalienable rights" refered to by the Declaration of Independence
in opposition to institutional or governmental authority, with no intent to
permit unconditional license to individuals. I intend my pledge to defend the
Constitution to be a pledge to defend the authority of the natural social
arena against all other claims to sovereignty. I will not defend anybody's
right to be a jerk.
-
AND: The federal government has made a big effort to establish a reputation
for regulatory completeness and accountability so that any citizen can make
a reasonable excuse for ignoring any concern that is unwritten. In advocacy
of this duty the government has gone ahead with instituting unconstitutional
cultural prohibitions where a clear majority wishes for it.
 *****
 Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu-
tion, no prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respect- 
ively, or to the people. (return to page 1)
-
OR: The opposite of Amendment IX; All citizens have the duty to live with the
freedoms of others that are not contractually abridged by the Constitution.
-
AND: The federal government has promoted such an immense web of citizen and
intergovernmental contracts that almost any aspect of anyone's life is open
to legitimate regulation, especially related to the use of land and roads.
Virtually all cultural expression has become contracturally abridged.
 *****
   Since all of us were born into the constitutional contract, it is not
voluntary; I cannot in good conscience hold anyone to it, and the uniform
commercial code 1-207 (a boggling tangle of words I won't present here)
declares a contract nonbinding if fraud or coercion were used to obtain it.
   Almost everyone I have ever discussed this with has gladly taken the U.S
citizenship offer and several have been quite threatened by my acceptance of
these responsibilities. I imagine the worry is that pressure may come on
them to do the same but this is not a real possibility. The Constitutional
contract was made possible and can only be enforced through individual civil
dispute, which generally destroys a lot of the resources and often the lives
of the protagonists (as in the revolutionary war) and forces compliance only
on the part of the government, not the rest of "we the people".
   There are also five other unwritten amendments from the public. These
other rights, duties and federal relief programs look to me as follows:
 *****
   Amendment A: The victim of a motor vehicle accident shall have assured
remedy at law against the operator.
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to commercially register all motorized
vehicles and themselves as operators unless on private property.
-
AND: The federal government has left this alone, creating an illusion of re-
lease on long trips, while backing the State enforcement through the federal 
contractual web which renders everyone's personal life to be commercial and
thus open to regulation based on the commerce clause in Article 1,section 8,
clause 3 of the Constitution which states:
     --{Congress shall have the power} to regulate Commerce with foreign 
     nations, among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
 ***** 
   Amendment B: The public shall be guaranteed a significant share of the
wealth of successful Americans.
-
OR: The duty to pay personal dues, graduated based on economic success, for
participation in any economic activity that in any way touches the public.
- 
AND: The federal government has established the viciously hard sold, self
assessed income tax but has invented a huge array of tax loopholes that
the very clever or those who can afford to hire advice can make use of.
 *****
   Amendment C: When any form of major disaster strikes, the victims shall
have technical assistance from the public.
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to give remedial aid to the victims of very
rotten luck.
-
AND: The federal government has invented or offered grant money for a huge 
array of assistance agencies that offer just enough aid, or at least hope of
aid, to completely draw victim attention away from the public; and through
terrorizing employers into demanding a current social security contract on
the part of all those in their employ, the federal government has
successfully financed retirement and disability insurance for all americans.
 *****
   Amendment D: Congress shall have the power to regulate apparently self-
centered pursuit of pleasure.
-
OR: All citizens have the duty to refrain from personal habits that upset a
lot of people.
-
AND: The federal government has led a major "war" against the less popular
forms in order to create easy scapegoats to blame for the social disintegra-
tion that heedless pursuit of pleasure causes, thus relieving the majority 
from the duty by declaring them innocent and relieving the minority from the
duty by giving them just cause for feeling persecuted. 
 *****
   Amendment E: All construction activity creating permanent structures,
all use of land (excepting residential use by the sole allodial owner), and
all use of equipment with public environmental impact shall be defined as
commercial.
     -
OR: All Citizens have the duty to be responsive to the collective aesthetic
of their society in the traditions or structures they establish.
     -
AND: All levels of government have gone wild with this one, within their
limits of jurisdiction.
 *****
   Most American Nationals hold the view that since these are unwritten, and
so not honorable, they don't have legitimacy. To me that is a pretty bad-
hearted view. My preference is that:
  ---there be a law requiring all motor vehicles to display a large homemade
     placard giving the owner's name and a city whose phone book lists them,
     and requiring all operators to carry a U.S. passport, or foreign equi-
     valent.
  ---all government be financed through excise taxes as the U.S. Constitu-
     tion describes.
  ---remedial aid be entirely from non-profit local organizations.
  ---everyone have the publicly declared duty not to scapegoat anyone else
     for overall social disintegration.
  ---all residential construction and use be classed as non-commercial.
   Nevertheless, the values of the current public supersede me and the Con-
stitution. Majority tyranny adds a drama to life, like a dragon and dungeons
game, inspiring many people to get out of bed in the morning to meet the 
challenge of the day. 
   Many people also object to the Supreme Courts' interpretation of the word
commerce.In the dictionary the word has two definitions which I rephrase as:
  (1) The interchange of merchandise or property in a formal setting or the
      public domain.
  (2) the interchange of merchandise, property, services, thoughts,feelings,
      sexual contact, or personal acts of any sort in a formal setting or
      the public domain.
   The founding fathers clearly intended the first, since the second would 
violate the first amendment on nearly all points.. My opinion is that the
public has adopted the second definition and that the ninth Amendment
guarantees them the right to create regulation of these other realms of
commerce. Given the way juries have related to lawsuits against service
people who have made minor honest mistakes with big bad consequences, the
public clearly advocates regulation of services. I also believe the public
has always advocated regulation of prostitution, nudity, sex with children,
and thoughts and feelings where children or criminals are involved, based on
the grassroots political action they inspire.
   My primary motive for rejecting U.S. citizenship is my relationship to
the civil courts. For me to sincerely respect the law I need my accuser to
be one or more other local people who I have actually injured, my judge to
be a group of local regular people and the penalty money to go to the injured
party, not the public treasury. This is the tradition of the Common Law
referred to in the Bill of Rights which applies in all cases where a
contract violation is not the issue.
   I think it is fair to say that I was tricked and pressured into getting
a social security number and a drivers license. So far most people, in loose
discussions with me, take the opposite view, that being present in the
geographic United States carries the duty to live subject to all government
rules and expectations, that sovereignty is a thing of the wild past. Their
opinion is that my creator may have given me the right to liberty but they
didn't, at least not voluntarily, so my creator is the only one who is going
to accept a duty to defend or encourage my liberty. This seems to me
dishonorable but an understandably wary view.
   My wish is to completely resolve any vengeance in my spirit by stepping
out of the squabble for privileges that the majority demands tyranny of. I
need everyone to have the real hope of inspiring my genuine fondness, as if
we were survivors of a recent shipwreck. Perhaps it is a weakness of
character that I am so easily embittered by mechanistic society.
Nevertheless, my technical needs are trifling so I will be a tiny king rather
than a mighty subject, and wish everybody well.
 


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