I Believe by Chuck McGlawn 01/15/2005

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 4:19pm

     I believe that the ultimate destination for this world will be peace and prosperity. In an atmosphere of peace and prosperity, humankind is at its most creative and most productive state. I believe that less government is the road toward that destination. I believe that more responsibility is the vehicle that will get us to that destination. Additionally, I believe that the road, the vehicle, and the destination are possible only when Liberty prevails.

     I believe in America’s tradition of personal liberty, individual responsibility, respect for private property, and tolerance of others. I believe these are the time-tested traditions that have made these United States of America the greatest nation on earth. I believe these are the time-proven traditions that have made these United States of America the envy of the world, and the example to be followed by peace-loving peoples of any nation desiring to live free. I believe these traditions had us well along on the road to becoming "one people".

     Then something went wrong. We became a nation contending against itself. The last half of the 20th century saw all manner of divisions. Instead of coming together, which we had been doing very well for the first half of the 20th century, now we see black pitted against white, poor against rich, and youth against age. We even see women somehow contending against men. We see wage earners contending with welfare recipients. We now see citizens contending against immigrants and almost everyone against the Moslems. Strangely we find the Federal Government contending against US Citizens, and vice-versa.

     We seem to have lost control. "Government of the people, for the people and by the people" has, for all practical purposes vanished from our beloved Nation. No matter how we vote, the government gets bigger---more intrusive. No matter how strongly worded the candidates promised to reduce taxes, they continue to rise---and we tax more things? No matter how much more we spend education, test scores continue to drop. No matter which team is in power, the basic necessities of life get more expensive? And there is no end in sight.

     There is a better way. I believe we deserve a life of our own choosing, a life that is not micromanaged by a collection of government bureaucrats that see us as lab rats in one social experiment after another. I believe this should no longer be true, it is time to set our nation back on the road to its once recognized goals of a better life and a better world for everyone.

     I believe in you, and respect you as a competent individual. I believe you deserve more than the “one-size-fits-all” lawmaking that now prevails in the halls of Congress. Please deliver us from those government agencies that feel they can run our lives for us better than we can ourselves.

     I believe in your freedom. The freedom to live and love in your own way, I believe in your freedom to work and play in your own way. Most importantly, I believe in your freedom to dream in your own way, with the full expectation that your dreams can become a reality without government interference. All these, and much more were our clearly recognized goals just a few decades ago.

     I invite you to join in building a society that offers freedom and opportunity. I believe that without these, prosperity and peace are impossible. I believe together we can send a resounding message to all elected officials that we will not settle for anything less than a governmental system that will unleash the teachers to teach and preachers to preach, but most importantly, a system that will unleash the reachers to reach.

[I will be expecting, and; looking for your comments.]

The Primary Function of Our National Government by Chuck McGlawn

Sun, 04/03/2011 - 6:05pm, by Chuck McGlawn 07/29/2006

Wars are raging in Iraq and Afghanistan. The powder keg in the Middle East is threatening to set the world aflame. One cannot deny that US citizen security is at an all-time low. This might be the perfect time to ponder, just what was the primary function of the federal government?

Let us go to one of our basic documents the Declaration of Independence to answer this question. To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, (which was the Mission Statement for the soon to be ratified Articles of Confederation and later the US Constitution) humankind, has the right (these are humankind’s natural rights) to LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. The Declaration of Independence launched a whole new relationship between the people and their National Government. For the first time a National Government is created by man to secure (that is to protect) those rights of LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS. Most importantly, the Declaration of Independence stipulates that government gets it power from the governed.

Our Government is failing the citizens of the US big time. The attack on the World Trade Center was clear proof of that. While our military is off to far-away-places, with strange sounding names, involved in preemptive strikes, regime change, “democracy” spreading, setting itself up as the policemen of the world (or school-yard bully, I really cannot tell which). The job they are supposed to be doing, that being to protect our lives, our liberties and our pursuit of happiness goes unfilled.

Our Government cannot claim budgetary restrictions. In the last fifty years, the US Government has spent trillions of dollars developing an offensive military force. Much of this became obsolete before it could be used. When any fifth grader, with a proper education could tell you that our government is only empowered to develop a defensive military force.

Bring our troops home, not only from Iraq and Afghanistan, but also from the over 100 nations we now occupy. Muster-out all the troops except enough for an invincible defensive force. Half of the money required to house and pay our troops abroad returned to the taxpayer. Returning in excess of 75 Billion dollars to the taxpayers, would trigger a spending frenzy that would launch an economic upturn unprecedented in America’s history. The resulting increased Federal tax revenues returned to the taxpayers, would further fuel the skyrocketing expansion of our economy.

All of this growth would create such a shortage of labor, that US businesses would have to run full-page ads in Mexico and other Central American nations for willing laborers.

Some (just some) of the increased tax revenues accruing to State and City governments could fund State and City Police Intelligence Agencies. These agencies could then develop DEFENSIVE plans that fit the needs of the geographic area where the increased tax revenues occur. States would no longer be dependent on the failed one-size-fits-all defense measures planned by the Federal Government. The rest of the State and City tax revenues returned to taxpayers would be additional economic stimulus.

Oh, and the other half of the money being spent to house US troops abroad could be put out to private bid on National defensive weapons systems weapon systems so diverse, so cutting edge and so state of the art that another 9/11 style attack would be hugely reduced. Then, a national policy that no longer had its nose stuck into every nations business, and citizen security would be at an all time high.

The Fast-Track to Prosperity by Chuck McGlawn 03/20/2011

Thu, 03/24/2011 - 11:17am

In the US today we have approximately 160,000,000 adults, divided between men and women, divided again among 50 States, divided again between employment in the public or the private sectors, divided again between hundreds or thousands of professions, careers and duties. These millions separate themselves again by personal interest, hobbies, and different activities physical and mental. Additional diversity manifests itself by political division (Rep. Dem. Lib. Grn. ETC.) Additional diversity arises from attitudes toward each issue, (Conservative, Liberal or Libertarian).

The diversity that I have so inadequately tried to describe above does not even scratch the surface of the diversity that exists within the borders of the US. We are a nation of peoples that are so freethinking, that no two individuals have the exact same total agenda. Talk about people as snowflakes, with no two alike. Is it any wonder that with all that individuality and diversity with its accompanying multiple cross purposes that is built into our system that grass roots efforts to change or divert the bulldozer of government expansion has failed. We need a way to coral all of this individual diversity regardless of their far-flung self-interest, to somehow move in the same direction.

There are two ways to bring us this seeming impossible end. The first being, “To educate enough American voters so, that will then take an active role in legislative selection, so as to vote out the tax and spend law makers, in favor of economically conservative lawmakers.” Gentle reader that is a process that started in the 1950s. Let me ask, how that has that approach worked out for us? The answer is that, while we have been working tirelessly to reduce the size of government for sixty years, there is no indication that we have slowed the process one iota. From Liberal Presidents like Johnson, Carter, and Clinton through Moderate Presidents like Eisenhower, Ford and Daddy Bush, to Conservative Presidents like Reagan. The growth in the size and intrusiveness of government has remained unchecked. You know all about the “Continuing the same steps of the past, and expecting different results.”

The second way is IF, and it is a gigantic IF: We have been suggesting this as your mantra for the last five years.

“If we reduced the size of the Federal Government to its constitutionally limited size, it would create a vacuum in the taxing and regulating departments. (The Constitution does not grant the National Government many taxing and regulating powers.) The 50 State Governments would quickly fill these vacuums, separately. With the 50 separate States, tinkering with taxation and regulation some State would stumble onto a formula that would produce a bump upward in prosperity. Other States would see and begin to imitate the prosperous State, modifying their taxing and regulating slightly to better accommodate their unique location and their unique population which produces even better results, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth” (You have my permission to freely use that mantra, even have it printed on your business card. )

Frankly, I am not sure the second step can ever be accomplished. But, let me quickly say, it is the shorter of the only two routs toward prosperity.

Today there is no clear distinction between tax and spend Democrats. who never saw a social program they didn’t like, and the borrow and spend Republicans. who never saw a war making program that they didn’t like. Sixty years of that effort has not produced a single Administration that successfully reduced the size and reach of government. This second way is to educate enough people to somehow put the “toothpaste” of government back into the “toothpaste tube”. As impossible as that sounds, it is far easier than the first choice that we have been engaged for sixty years.

Toward being able to accomplish the second method, remember we have a road-map, to a small National Government, we have a blueprint for small National Government; we have clearly defined guidelines for a small National Government. The document to which I refer is the Declaration of Independence. Within the Declaration of Independence, in the second paragraph we have a clear description of man’s proper relationship relation to his National Government. If enough could accept this paragraph, that is just one paragraph, as the “Mission Statement” for our National Government, we could easily use that blueprint to create a National Government of a size that would fit into the Constitution.

The job of educating enough people to accept the Declaration of Independence as the Mission Statement for our National Government is infinitely smaller than trying to educate the entire voting population to choose fiscally conservative lawmakers that were not poised to bomb any nation that was causing problems in their part of the world.

In just a few paragraphs, one can show clearly, the definition of our National Government. Using the highly respected and much supported Declaration of Independence, to achieve this clarity. Direct your attention to just the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. This advice has been available for 233 years. A carefully thoughtful reading of that simple sentence can provide the understanding necessary to fashion a small National Government. Please remember we are only dealing with a National Government.

The Declaration of Independence says, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness... [There is no major disagreement here, among a very large section of out population.]

What powerfully insightful words. First, it establishes that the truths are “self-evident” and confirmed by observation of natural law. Then it goes on to reveal, that man’s rights, (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness) are “unalienable, with the dictum that these rights are granted by the Creator or nature, called natural law, or the Rule of Law, this means they cannot be taken way. Not even by the government that was soon to be created.

Looking closer, you have three and only three RIGHTS. Simply by being born you have the right to LIFE. Moreover, you have the RIGHT to do with that LIFE anything you want to do. That is LIBERTY. You have the RIGHT to plan and conduct that LIFE in a way that you think will maximize your happiness. These are all yours ostensibly without any interference from the National Government, so long as what you do does not interfere with another’s RIGHT to do what he/she wants to do with their LIFE. I make a distinction between National Government and State Government because we have a blueprint for a National Government, but not a blueprint for State Governments. State governments will be molded and modified not by a blueprint, but by “Free Market” competition. We will in effect turn our States into K-Marts and Wal-Marts competing with the other States for populations.

Next, the framers make a vitally important assertion. “That to secure these rights”, (notice here, that these are rights that we had even before we had governments to "secure" them.) “Governments are instituted among Men”. Please note exactly what is taking place here, the people of the thirteen Colonies (States) are going to engaged in a contract with our (soon to be formed) National Government to “secure” (that is to protect) our rights. It is also important to note that men make National Government, and therefore precede National Government. This means that The National Government is the agent to and servant of man, and not the reverse. A reminder is necessary here. We are talking about our National Government, State Governments are not held to this high standard. Remember the State governments were established before these criteria were laid down. Some States had State religions, other States allowed slavery. It was clear that the National Government was not brought into existence to “fix” the State Governments.

Now the framers are going to designate from where our National Government gets its just powers, and at the same time put an important limitation on that governmental power. The Declaration of Independence says, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There you have it. If our National Government gets its powers from the governed, it would naturally follow that man cannot create a National Government and consent to give to that government powers that man himself does not have. Let me say that again. If government gets its powers from the governed, then the government being created cannot have powers that individual man does not have.

A question or two are in order here; does man have the right to defend his own life and property? YES is the answer. Therefore, man can institute a National Government and share with that government the power to protect life and property. In fact, the ability to share these powers is the justification for a military and a judicial system.

Now, do you as an individual person, have the right to take money from others and give that money to someone else that you think needs it more? The answer is NO. Therefore, it would follow that if man does not have that right to do it as an individual, then he cannot create a National Government, and consent to give to that National Government the power to take money from others and give it to someone else that the Government thinks needs it more.

This means our National Government can have no power to extract taxes from you to educate children. Our National Government can not be empowered to educate children, no matter how badly the population may think children need educating. It means that our National Government can have no power to extract taxes from you to fund social welfare, no matter how needy the population may think some people are. It also can have no power for health care providing, business promoting, Park building. The National Government should not be involved in educational standards setting, régime changing, weather reporting, democracy spreading. The National Government should not be spending tax monies on database keeping, farmer saving, speed limit setting or toilet designing. No matter how large a budget surplus our government may have it should never spend taxes on E-Mail reading, phone tapping, corporate bailouts, or the dozens of other things that the National Government is either financing or regulating.

Let me mention just one natural result of this change. If the Declaration of Independence is adopted as the “Mission Statement” for our National Government, and if all of those broad powers, and many many more too numerous to mention, were to be removed from our National Government, would there be a need for an IRS? I think not.

By creating a National Government that is limited to the powers that individuals had before he had a National Government, would in effect divide all of that power that is exercised by our National Government among the 50 State Governments, as it was originally intended. The National Government would still have the power to maintain a DEFENSIVE military. You may be asking why I emphasized defensive? It is because DEFENSIVE is the only power YOU have to share with the National Government. The National Government would still have the power of the Judicial Branch to settle disputes between States.

This would in effect turn our States into Wal-Marts and K-Marts competing with each other for populations. The unintended consequences of this move would automatically end those dastardly “earmarks” Our National Government would not have the money (Power) to bribe or coerce States Governments into compliance with the desires of the National Government. Would we have to pass laws to stop those “Horrible” lobbyists? What would happen if you took away DCs Power Peddling? Then Corporations that had been paying the lobbyist to lobby for a corporate advantage would begin to spend that money on actual product improvement, or increase dividend payouts or paying higher wages, or perhaps a little of all three.

Right now, there are approximately 4.5 million state employees. The main concern for most of those 4.5 million is to have a job next year, that gentle reader is a formula for inefficiency. There is no real thought on the part of most of those 4.5 million State employees to deliver “Betterment” to the citizens of their respective States. There is no real eye toward efficiency in State Government. However, if States had to compete with 49 other States for populations it would convert most of those 4.5 million State employees into machines of efficiency, always seeking lower operating cost, always striving to become more efficient, always thinking of ways to deliver “betterment” to the populations of their State. The efficiency learning curve would be so steep as to astound lawmakers, and point them toward efficiency. This would turn our State lawmakers into writing and passing laws (often times repealing laws that created inefficiency) that would benefit the populations of their State. Moreover, if the lawmakers of one State were slower to move than the lawmakers of a competing State they would find their tax base dwindling. Lawmakers that were slow to move or continued to propose laws that were contrary to the wishes of the people, he would be looking for a new job after the next election. In addition, the questions about term limits would become moot.

Another unintended consequence would begin to surface would be the knowledge that the voter within a State could affect their governments through the voting process. This would make interest in governmental matters higher on an individual’s priority list, likely way ahead of knowing the scores of the last sporting event, or who the starting pitcher or quarterback will be in the big game.

PS I am very interested to know what you think about this article. Do you think it has merit. Do you have thoughts on how to recapture our liberty? If yes, please share your thoughts with us. We are specifically asking for your thoughts.

The Gods of the “MARKET PLACE Teachings”

Sun, 01/30/2011 - 2:55pm
The Gods of the “MARKET PLACE Teachings” by Rudyard Kipling Edited by Chuck McGlawn

[I have done something blasphemous. I have changed some of the wording of Kipling's justly Famous poem, that he entitled “The Gods of the Copybook Heading.” By way of explanation, the poem was written in 1919 England, Kipling chose the phrase Copybook Heading because it represented “conventional wisdom” truisms, and advice to be followed to live a happy life. The phrase “Market Place” carried some negative connotations in “Progressive” England at the end of WWI. Therefore, I have changed “Copybook Heading” to “Market Place Teachings”.

Nothing is lost with this change. And for this audience I think you will appreciate the change.

For purity’s sake go to http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_the_Copybook_Headings and read Kipling’s poem as written. In the meantime here is my version which honors the Market Place as the source of “Conventional Wisdom”.

The Gods of the “MARKET PLACE Teachings”

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Copybook Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Market Place Teachings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Copybook Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Copybook Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, they promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Marketplace Teachings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Market Place Teachings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Market Place Teachings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Copybook tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Market Place Teachings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Market Place Teachings with terror and slaughter return!

Our President and The FAIR TAX by Chuck McGlawn

Sat, 01/29/2011 - 4:31pm

Our President has said it in the State of the Union speech, “So tonight, I’m asking Democrats and Republicans to simplify the system. “ Let’s take him at his word. What could be more simple than the “Fair Tax” that collects a revenue neutral tax on our spending instead of on our working income or our investing income. If you earn a $1,000.00 your paycheck is for a $1,000.00, no more withholding for income tax. (No more IRS.)

No more withholding for Social Security retirement, (No more FICA deductions.) no more complicated tax forms, no more hiring tax accountants, no more hiring tax Attorneys. And no more wondering if you are contributing to a charitable organization because you want to help their cause or because you want a tax deduction.

Our President said, “Get rid of the loopholes. Level the playing field.” With the “Fair Tax” there are no loopholes, and as for a level playing field the “Fair Tax” would, for the first time, collect taxes from the “Criminal Class”, pimps, bank robbers and illegal aliens.

Our President said, “…lower the corporate tax rate...” Someone needs to tell the President that the “Fair Tax” would (without loosing any income for government spending” completely eliminate the Corporate income tax. This could make it financially viable to keep factories here at home instead of shipping them South Bago Bago.

Our President talked a lot about “investing”. What he was really talking about was spending. But he used the word “investing” because he knows, that you know “investing is good”. The “Fair Tax” would eliminate the Capital Gains Tax. This would invite more people into the investor class, and American Companies would have the working capital for development, innovation and expansion. More jobs for everyone.

All-in-all the “Fair Tax” is a win-win, win-win, win-win, did I say win-win situation. Find out more at fairtax.org.

Fifty Reasons Why Everyone Wins with the Fair-Tax

1. It allows you to keep 100% of your paycheck, with nothing withheld
for Social Security and Medicare payments.

2. It eliminates the regressive payroll tax that hurts the poor.
Currently, every one of us is taxed a minimum of 7.65% on our first-dollar of
wages up to $90,000, if we earn that much.

3. It assures that the wealthiest Americans will be voluntarily helping
to fund social security with every last dollar they spend above the
poverty level. Today, earnings are subject to payroll taxes only up to
$90,000. The wealthiest Americans therefore do not pay into the system
above that amount. If their earnings are from investments, no earnings
fund the Social Security system. Under the FairTax, a single purchase
(regardless of the source of the earnings) can result in greater
contributions to the Social Security system than would be paid by an individual
under the payroll tax of today.

4. It provides funding for Social Security and Medicare at a level
equal to or greater than at present, with a stronger and broader tax base.

5. It secures the future of Social Security and Medicare because all
spenders fund it and not just the workers.

6. It eliminates all personal income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate
income taxes, gift taxes, death taxes, and capital gains taxes.

7. It eliminates the income tax and the IRS. Members of Congress and
the public overwhelmingly agree that the current internal revenue code is
cumbersome, intrusive, coercive, and inefficient.

8. It is revenue neutral with the present income tax system, funding
the federal budget at current levels.

9. It will remove an average of 22% of the cost of American made goods
by removing the built-in payroll tax (the other 7.65% of earnings that
employers pay) and other business taxes that are now passed to
consumers as an "embedded" tax of approximately 22% due to the cascading of
income and payroll taxes paid by U.S. employers, at every step of
production, to the U.S. Treasury.

10. It doesn't tax used items ? clothes, cars, homes. Only new items
are taxed when sold by a business to an individual.

11. It is progressive, a "prebate" of the tax amount up to the poverty
level is given to everyone. This means that those spending below the
poverty level have a net gain because the "prebate" exceeds the amount
paid in taxes. (Under the present system they pay the payroll tax even if
they get a full refund of income tax withheld.)

12. It eliminates 90% of the cost of compliance. American families and
American businesses waste an estimated $250 ? $600 billion per year
doing the paperwork necessary to comply with the tax code. That is roughly
$1,000 ? $2,000 annually for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

13. It creates an opportunity for our products to leave this country
costing an average of 25% less, thus increasing our exports, lower our
deficit balance of trade, and increasing employment at home.

14. It encourages investment in companies located in the U.S., thus
providing a home for money already in the US and attracting more. The U.S.
will be the most attractive tax-free haven in the world for doing
business. American companies will return from offshore and overseas.

15. It encourages repatriation to the U.S. of money held by U.S.
individuals and companies now in foreign countries, with no tax consequence.

16. All 290 million Americans and 51 million visiting tourists fund
Social Security and Medicare with their purchases. Today only 110 million
workers fund these programs via deductions from their paychecks.

17. The broader tax base includes the ten percent of our economy, an
estimated $1 trillion, that today is underground or under the table.
Under the FairTax, the illegal drug dealer will pay his tax just like the
rest of us when he buys his sunglasses, BMW, and other items, as will
those who do business for cash.

18. It allows families to save more for home ownership, education, and
retirement. An average family making $50,000 will have $7,500 more
spendable income.

19. It makes educational tuition a tax-free expenditure of tax-free
income.

20. It makes American products more competitive overseas by removing
the embedded tax from them, thus lowering their prices, which compensates
for low foreign wages.

21. It makes American products more competitive at home by removing the
embedded tax from them, compensating for the low cost of imported
products not burdened by taxes imposed by exporting countries.

22. It removes the need for formal 401-K's, IRAs, HSA, etc. Anyone will
be able to set up any kind of savings or investment account without
regard to taxes or the government.

23. It frees churches and other non-profit organizations from the
expense of filing tax returns and paying their half of Social Security and
Medicare payments for employees. There will no longer be any 501.c.3 or
501.c.4 non-profit tax status, because there will be no more tax to be
exempt from.

24. It restores to churches and non-profit organizations the 1st
Amendment right to engage in free speech, without fear of losing their
tax-free status.

25. It gives individuals and businesses the right to donate as much as
they want to in a given year to charitable causes.

26. It restores the 4th Amendment, protecting against unreasonable
searches and seizures, from which the IRS presently is exempt.

27. It restores the 5th Amendment, which guarantees the right to due
process. Under current systems the IRS has their own courts with their
own set of rules not included in the 5th.

28. It cleans up a major flaw in campaign financing, eliminating
campaign donations for "tax favors".

29. It eliminates wrangling in Congress over tax cuts, the tax code,
and who is or is not paying a fair share of the tax bill.

30. It encourages work by letting workers keep 100% of their earnings
and giving a rebate, to boot, making the notion that the more you work,
the more money you have, a reality, unlike the current system where
welfare is lost when you go to work, so your first dollars earned after
taxes just offset what you were currently getting in welfare, making you
no better off.

31. It allows more of the lower income families to become home owners
by allowing a second job income above their current income (all tax
free) to be applied to a mortgage. Money for down payments for homes is
also saved totally tax free so that it will accumulate faster.

32. It allows families to retain farms and businesses in the hands of
those who built them through the elimination of the death tax.

33. It allows families to help each other out tax-free, by eliminating
the gift tax.

34. It encourages individuals to self-insure, making the health system
more direct pay (no 3rd party pay), thus bringing costs down.

35. Without FICA to pay, most states, counties, municipalities, and
school districts will see a large increase in their state budget revenues,
additionally lowering the overall tax burden (State & Federal) for most
Americans.

36. It assures that no American will find, at the end of the year, a
need to get a loan to pay taxes as an alternative to penalties, interest,
or cheating.

37. It restores individual privacy. The government no longer needs to
know where you work, what you are earning, and what you are doing with
it.

38. It eliminates the need to have a "marriage" clarification declaring
who you live with, as that has no bearing at all on a state or federal
sales tax.

39. It eliminates the need for courts to decide which divorced parent
gets to take the tax deduction for children.

40. It reduces production costs for farmers and other subsidized
businesses, leading to a reduction in subsidies, thus reducing the federal
budget.

41. It eliminates the administrative costs incurred by states in
collection of state sales taxes because states will piggyback the state tax
collection onto the national tax collection, for which they are
compensated by the FairTax ?% administrative cost give-back. [Doesn't this go
to the retailers?]

42. It results in a windfall profit for many of those holding taxable
corporate high interest bonds at the time of passage of FairTax, since
they will not be taxed under FairTax. (A higher interest rate is usually
paid to entice investors to buy the corporate bonds rather than go with
the lower interest, but tax free, municipal bonds, now.)

43. It shifts the tax to consumption, which consumption tables over
time show is more stable than income, therefore the tax revenue stream is
likely to be a more stable and predictable amount.

44. It results in Federal Reserve rates being based on current
consumption, which is rather stable, instead of future earnings, which are less
predictable, resulting in surer inflation prevention.

45. It allows for better planning by businesses, because they no longer
have to consider tax implications for everything they do.

46. It makes higher employment or better compensation possible in the
small business sector where today it costs approximately three dollars
in compliance costs to pay one dollar in payroll and income taxes.

47. It moves many now providing tax preparation, advice, accounting,
planning, and records maintenance into an expansive economy where they
will be producing goods and services. There they can add to the standard
of living of all Americans and likely earn more than they do currently,
instead of shuffling paper for the government (and not contributing
anything economically to society).

48. It relieves citizens of the risk of facing the shift in burden of
proof that is so common with the current system, i.e., the taxpayer is
guilty unless innocence can be proved, when even IRS staff sometimes
give conflicting interpretations.

49. It's simple, unambiguous, and certain, the opposite of the current
tax code.

50. It's good for the environment. It reportedly would save about
300,000 trees a year that are needed to produce the paper for the IRS
compliance and tax forms, enough to reach around the equator placed end to
end 28 times. Also, since it taxes only new items, it would encourage
buying tax-free pre-owned cars, clothes, furniture, houses, etc. Reuse is
good for the environment, too.

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS ALSO:

22% of the price of all that you buy currently is tax / tax compliance cost. When that cost goes away (under the Fair Tax) the price of your $1.00 item (purchased at Wal-Mart, for example) drops in price to 78 cents (without damaging the profit margin).

1.23 X 78 cents = 96 cents.

Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Even with the 23% Fair Tax added on, your originally $1.00 item is now 4 cents cheaper.

You Can Deny Individual Rights, but do not call it The Rule of Law

by Chuck McGlawn 9/18/10

There is a phrase that has drifted into common use, no, it has exploded, into common use. It is a phrase that forty years ago its application would have been welcomed, and would have been celebrated by Conservatives, Right-Wingers and Libertarians alike. But, forty years ago Conservatives, Right-Wingers and Libertarians were almost just one group. That was forty years ago. Before we get into that phrase, let us take a brief look at that same “Conservative, right-wing and libertarian” landscape.

Today the conservative movement has grown so large that they now include some special interest Conservatives. The conservatives have divided themselves into three very distinct but very much overlapping factions. There are the, I guess we will have to call them the Old-Conservatives. They adhere to the basic conservative beliefs. They oppose high taxes, foreign aid, corporate and social welfare, farm subsidies and government regulations. They are strict constructionist when it comes to the Constitution. These Conservatives call themselves “Small Government Conservatives”.

The small government conservatives typified by the motto of The John Birch Society. One of the earliest and defining conservative organizations. Robert Welch, the founder and President of The John Birch Society said in the Blue Book, “The motto can be summed up in just five words less government and more responsibility”.

The small government conservatives could merge quite easily with libertarians and right-wingers. [The regular readers of this Liberty ViewsLetter know that the historic definition of right-winger is an advocate of less government.] This means small government conservatives, libertarians and right-wingers are still largely just one group. The other two conservatives groups still adhere too many of those small government planks, with a few planks added.

Let us call the second group of conservatives the, “Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid.” conservatives. The additional planks they add to the conservative platform are “Be ready for war with Iran” plank, They functions as if the Iranians are on the verge of having nuclear weapon capability, with a burgeoning ballistic missal delivery system so that they will soon be able to lob the big one onto New York or Washington DC. This is, of coarse a slight exaggeration.

A close corollary to that plank is the “close the borders”, because “every job done by an illegal is a job stolen from an American.” AND, “with open borders the Iranians do not have to wait for a missal delivery system to be developed, they can just carry suitcase nukes across the ‘open border’, and BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, goodbye to San Diego, Phoenix and Dallas.” The libertarians, and right-wing (those who are advocates of less government) would not mesh too well with these brands of conservatives.

The third wing of the conservative movement is, (and remember there is much overlapping.) the “Religious Conservatives”. Therefore, some of each of the other groups adheres to some of the planks that are added by the religious conservatives. The religious conservatives add to the platform these planks: “no abortion”, “no stem cell research” and “marriage is to be defined as being between one man and one woman”.

Now The Phrase

The phrase to which I refer is “The Rule of Law” Now I am very familiar with the term. I and many conservatives have been using it for decades to describe man’s natural or God given rights. The concept of the “Rule of law” plays heavily in any understanding and any explanation of the meaning of the Declaration of Independence. The line from the Declaration that says, “…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights… to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And that life liberty and the pursuit of happiness were man’s natural rights. The basics of the Rule of Law.

I am not alone in this appraisal.

“These unwritten principles of equality, autonomy, dignity, and respect are said to transcend ordinary written laws that are enacted by government. Sometimes known as natural law or higher law theory.”
(see) http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Rule_of_Law

“Natural Law, the unwritten body of universal moral principles that underlie the ethical and legal norms by which human conduct is sometimes evaluated and governed. Natural law is often contrasted with positive law or statutes, which consists of the written rules and regulations enacted by government.” (see) http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Natural_Law)

The Rule of Law

“…maxim states that men should not be trusted to rule others unless their rule is tempered by fixed laws that prevent tyranny. Laws that prevent individuals from accumulating wealth by force, laws that prevent those in high office from exercising power over the populace without restraint, laws that prevent the majority from acting without a due regard for the rights and well-being of individuals, laws that prevent the powerful from plundering the weak. The Rule of Law is what our heroes died for in past wars for liberty.” “…not the cruel edicts of tyrant dictators or divine right decrees of kings -- is the bedrock of human justice, the philosophical cornerstone of these United States, and the foundation of hope for all mankind.” (Emphasis added)
(see) http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rrpope/rrpopepwd/articles/definition.html

You may have heard it said of America,

"Ours is a nation of laws. We are ruled by laws, not men.’ What does this mean? Before America was born, men and women were ruled by kings who claimed the right to rule, who changed the law to suit their every whim. This was considered intolerable by our founding fathers; That, no written law may be enforced by the government unless it conforms with certain unwritten, universal principles of fairness, morality, and justice that transcend human legal systems.”

That is what was meant by the Rule of Law.(see) http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Rule_of_Law

Recently, we have seen the phrase “Rule of Law”, used to describe and justify the most egregious acts of majorities against minorities. To demonize and vilify men and women that come to this country to make for themselves a better life in pursuit of happiness. Men and women who just want the opportunity for nothing more than to make our beds and mow our lawns.

In the America, that I know and love the “Rule of Law” once described a revolutionary change in man’s relationship with his government. It represented a giant step forward in the evolution of mankind that was the point of demarcation from the brutal “might makes right”, and the dictatorial “Devine right of Kings”, into a whole new paradigm that man was capable of self government. And the Might makes Right and the divine right of Kings were consigned to the “Trash Heap” of history. That man had RIGHTS, inalienable rights that came to him by just being born. And, that man himself could create governments and limit that government to just protecting man’s inalienable rights.

I am saddened to say, that many conservatives are duped. They have abandoned their traditional moral values that respect life, liberty and property. They have abandoned the principles of the Rule of Law and God-given rights as recognized by the Declaration of Independence, and have turned their backs to the Rule of Law and instead embraced the interventionism of socialist central planning and the expanded intrusive State. And they have ignominiously chosen the phrase “Rule of Law” as the banner under which they march. To those conservatives, I invite a visit to and a more thoughtful reading of the Declaration of Independence.

To these misguided conservatives I offer this gently remind that George Orwell’s “Doublethink” means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. This means you will not be able to limit our government to the adherence to The Rule of Law as understood by our Founding Fathers, while advocating the most blatant laws that enable the majority to act without a due regard for the rights and well-being of individuals.

With the conversion of our once proud Republic into an unbridled Democracy, you can deny individuals there God Given “unalienable rights” by simple statutes, but please do not call it “The Rule of Law”.