SO YOU THINK YOUR PROPERTY IS YOURS?
Think Again!
Okay, all you people out there who think your taxes are too high hold up your hands. The rest of you are excused. Both of you.
Well (and this won’t come as a surprise to most of you) the people in government today don’t think you are paying enough. In fact, the grotesque idea that Americans are stingy and should be forced to “donate” more of their rightful possessions to the Government is held as moral truth by most of the members of the liberal ruling class.
Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) says it best: “These members believe today’s taxpayers are perpetrating an injustice by not paying more taxes, and that most of the money you make presumptively belongs to the government. Since your money really belongs to the government, tax cuts represent a government "giveaway."
Several attempts have been made to put a figure on the total amount of each American’s income that is confiscated by the government and none of them have been completely successful. It is, however, accepted by most experts that over 60 per cent of your income is lost to the government when you add up all the various forms of taxation. (That includes the so-called “fees”, “fines”, “service charges”, “TIF extractions” and all the other euphemisms for taxes used by politicians.) But is that all? No. Do you actually own any of the rest? Or, better put, do you actually own anything?
A wise man once said the power to tax is the power to destroy. I agree. Power to lay claim to our possessions is the power to destroy every “inalienable” right that we have claimed to be ours.
Is there a limit? Do we, as free citizens, have any right to say, “Enough is enough”? Yes, we do. That is, we do if the government abides by the law. Does the government follow the law? No!
The Constitution of the State of Arkansas prohibits the government from confiscatory behavior. Article 2, Section 22 says: “The right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction; and private property shall not be taken, appropriated or damaged for public use, without just compensation.”
Article 2, Section 28 of our Constitution states unequivocally that the government has no right to attach any restraints on and must recognize unfettered ownership of real property: “All lands in this State are declared to be allodial; and feudal tenures of every description, with all their incidents, are prohibited.” According to the dictionary allodial is described as: “A system of land ownership in which land is held free and clear of any rent or service due to the government; commonly contrasted to the feudal system.” Under a feudal system the person does not own the land but is considered a “serf” or squatter subject to forced dislocation by the government if certain demands placed on the serf are not forthcoming; in other words, a slave of the government.
Amendment 47 to the Arkansas Constitution makes it even clearer. The entire amendment consists of only 12 words: “No ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon property by the State.” Ad valorem means a duty (read tax) placed on property “according to the value”. So the Constitution forbids the State from imposing any tax based on the value of property.
Why did the authors of our Constitution go to such great lengths to keep the concept of private property so sacrosanct? To prevent the citizens of the state from ever being made to suffer 100 percent taxation. These wise men knew that the best way to prevent total government control and provide the people freedom from slavery was to exempt property from government’s reach.
If a government is allowed to pirate possessions at will, that government is evil at best and tyrannical at its worst.
Earlier in this commentary I asked the question, “Do we own anything?” The answer to that question is no, because the Government, aided and abetted by a growing judicial malignancy, has chosen to exempt itself from control by “the people”. And it does so by blatant disregard of the law. We no longer own anything; we rent everything from the government. If you do not believe me I suggest that you try going a couple of years without paying your rent (property tax) and see who ends up with the property.
We must remember that the concept of owning property is not some modality of capitalism or for that matter any other “ism”. Owning property and the concept of private property is not a privilege; it is an absolute necessity for the existence of freedom. Government cannot grant us rights. Government can only – through use of the threat of physical violence – steal our rights. We, as human beings, are born with our rights.
So it’s more than an issue of oppressive taxation. It is a matter of civil rights. If the government is not prevented from keeping a completely hands-off approach to our property then we have no civil rights.
If you think you have the right to free speech, try handing out leaflets on government property. If you think you have the right to be free from “unreasonable seizures” carry an ounce or so of an “illegal” substance in your car. The government will seize your car.
If you think you have freedom of religion try reading the Bible or Koran or giving a sermon on the steps of a post office. If you think you have the freedom of assembly try having your own parade without government permission. You will be arrested and charged because the government owns the street, you don’t. If you think you have freedom of expression try entering a courtroom with the symbol of your heritage, the confederate flag.
I am not saying any of the restrictions cited above are necessarily bad. What I am saying is that there is a difference between where you can and cannot exercise liberty. You have no liberty or freedom on property the government owns.
And as long as we allow the government to extort a monetary bribe in exchange for government controlled use of our personal property we have no liberties at all. We own nothing and have no freedom. As Henry David Thoreau put it:
“Talk about slavery! It is not the peculiar institution of the South. It exists wherever men are bought and sold, wherever a man allows himself to be made a mere thing or a tool, and surrenders his inalienable rights of reason and conscience. Indeed, this slavery is more complete than that which enslaves the body alone.”
I think it time we stand in front of the Fayetteville City Council and rattle our chains until they are removed