In a laughable incident caught on video and then massively overdramatized, a truther was cited for illegally distributing commercial materials in downtown San Antonio by a group of bicycle cops whose silly outfits added to the ridiculousness of a scene which plays rather like the segment in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where an irate and feces-spattered peasant begins ranting insanely that King Arthur is oppressing him when he just asks him for directions.

I’m looking forward to seeing this argument tested in court, as Alex Jones videos are clearly works of fiction, rather than meaningful political statements. Because they exist solely to enrich Alex Jones they are also obviously commercial samples rather than protected speech. Now, I admit that I don’t think that San Antonio should have the right to restrict commercial speech or ticket someone for giving out free samples of a commercial product, even if it’s promoting Jones’ particular snake-oil medicine show. However, under the statute as written there’s a very solid argument that these deluded fanatics were just shilling for a commercial enterprise and not really exercising free speech as defined under the statute.

What’s particularly clear from the video is that it’s time for these nutjobs to find a more productive way to spend their time.

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With tax day upon us, as I prepare my paperwork, I’m put in mind of simpler times when tax collecting was more honest and more direct without the bureaucratic middle men, but with basically the same result.

A hundred years ago in many nations, and much more recently in some third world countries, tax collection basically consisted of heavily armed men – perhaps from the army – coming by your house periodically and seizing any assets you hadn’t hidden well enough. They might beat you to find your hidden treasure or to get you to inform on neighbors, or perhaps rape your wife and daughters to get you to talk. The classic image this calls to mind is the fearsome Cossack of the last century in Russia, empowered by the government to go around in bands to rural areas and make sure that every peasant and serf was giving their all for the Empire. The bearded, heavily armed and stoic Cossacks were the perfect tax collectors for Russia, because not only were they fearsome with a reputation for barbarity, but they were highly mobile horsemen who could travel anywhere quickly. Plus they were non-Russians who enjoyed a priveleged status and reveled in lording it over the Russians who had conquered their country yet whose government had embraced them as shock troops and brutish instruments of authority. Where Russian troops might not have pillaged their own population, the proud and barbaric Cossacks would do so with joy, laughing through their dark beards as they impoverished the peasantry and enriched the government.

But for all the barbarity, violence and outrages against decency, the Cossacks and how they were used was profoundly honest. They operated on the principle that whatever the peasant didn’t have absolute and immediate need of essentially belonged to the government and would be taken by force at the government’s pleasure. No idealistic fiction of property rights stood in their way. What the government wanted they took, and woe to anyone who got in their way. Very efficient and brutally honest.

Today that same rapacious mentality is cloaked in the piled papers and suited bureaucrats of the Internal Revenue Service. They may not be Cossacks in form, but they are Cossacks in essence, using the enormous might of the imperial federal government to squeeze every little bit they can from the peasants of modern America. It’s all about feeding the monstrous appetite of a government which has gone amok, which rules over its people rather than governing for the people.

When the founding fathers started this country and authored the Constitution they were reacting against the Cossack-equivalents of red-coated British soldiers breaking down doors and holding forced inventories on behalf of the customs examiners. They wrote into the Constitution an absolute prohibition on taxation of income or individuals as a means by which the federal government could raise revenue. Article I, Section 9, Clause 4 reads “No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.” This means that the Congress can tax the states based on their population and the states can then raise that money by whatever means they want to, but that the federal government can never go directly to the people and take their money away.

Ironically, at about the time the Russians were getting rid of the Cossacks and trying to reform their government our states made the terrible mistake of ratifying the 16th Amendment to the Constitution which essentially overrode the prohibition on an income tax, effectively inviting the Cossacks into the federal government, and they’ve been there ever since, feeding off the public and growing fat and complacent.

And make no mistake, the gray-suited bureaucrats of the IRS are indeed the modern equivalent of Cossacks. Their ceaseless demands for more and more money to feed the beast are backed up by just as much imperial force as the Cossacks ever wielded. They may not hold a gun to your head, but they have plenty of power to destroy lives. They will seize your property, terrorize your family, drive you into bankruptcy – the modern equivalent of debtors prison, and hound you beyond the grave if necessary to get their fat fingers on the last copper kopek in your purse. They’re Cossacks in cheap suits and comfortable shoes.

The latest news is that like the commissars of old Mother Russia, the leaders of the IRS are sure that we’re hiding some chickens under our barn floors and burying coins in the farmyard. They are convinced that there is a $300 billion gap between what they believe is owed and what is actually being paid, and they are going to step up enforcement – send more Cossacks to your door more often with bigger swords – to make sure they get it all. That means more audits, closer examination of returns, and every other effort to squeeze us until we bleed.

Think for a minute about what it says about modern America that I can even make this comparison to the Cossacks of Imperial Russia and not really be too far off the mark. Sure, interest, withholding, penalties and liens all sound nicer and more legalistic, but they still come down to taking your property and your earnings by force. There may not be a literal Cossack at your door, but there’s one sitting at a computer wielding a red pen instead of a sword and he means you just as much harm.

This certainly isn’t the kind of revenue raising our Founding Fathers had in mind, and it feeds a government which they would hardly recognize as well. They envisioned small, efficient and inexpensive government that provided the bare necessities and left most of the work to the states and plenty of freedom to the individual citizens. They had no love or Cossacks, Redcoats or the penny-grabbing bureaucrats who now run our nation. They would scoff at us for being willing to put up with this sort of oppression when they were willing to fight and die to escape it and even the illiterate Russian peasants eventually rose up in revolt.

So on April 15th, when you sign that tax return and look at how much you’re paying to keep the Cossacks from your door, remember that there was a time only a few generations ago when Americans would have laughed at the idea that our citizens would be taxed the way that peasants were in Imperial Russia or in despotic third world nations.

Dave

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One of the spurious claims being circulated by the Birther fringe is that one of President Obama’s first acts in office was to issue Executive Order 13489 (PDF) which they claim was intended to seal away his birth certificate, school records and other evidence that he is not a United States citizen or otherwise unqualified to be President.

However, this executive order is virtually the same as Executive Order 123283 (PDF) which President George W. Bush issued early in his presidency and which it replaced. That executive order is in turn virtually identical to its predecessor Executive Order 12667 which was issued by President Reagan. All of these orders deal specifically with the National Archive and its role in preserving presidential papers and records. The orders refer only to records generated by the office of the President during his administration which have been kept by the National Archive since that institution was created in 1934.

Starting with Reagan it has been the practice of successive presidents to keep their operating records secret until a later date when they are made public as part of the comprehensive record of their presidency. This concern over the secrecy of White House records clearly originated in the aftermath of the Nixon presidency, which explains the discussion of executive privilege in the orders in question. It’s equally clear that none of these prior presidents had any interest in concealing President Obama’s birth records.

However, what none of these Executive Orders have any authority over are documents which were not generated by the President’s office while he was serving. They do not apply to state records like birth certificates or private records like school transcripts. The President does not have the authority to seal those records by executive order even if he wanted to, and nothing in these Executive Orders even attempts to do so.

This is a classic example of people looking at a document with a conclusion already in mind, and mistakenly assuming that the document they are looking at supports their preconceived conclusion solely because of some superficial characteristic which may not actually be relevant. In this case the logical fallacy is the assumption that if President Obama is keeping records secret those records must relate to his birth certificate or school records because you already believe those things to be falsifications which he would want to cover up.

This is an example of the Existential fallacy or Vacuous Truth fallacy which is often demonstrated in the classic False Antecedent Syllogism. In this case:

To those already inclined to belief this may sound good, but in fact there is no proven foundation for the first assertion and no actual causal link between the second premise and the conclusion. It’s a compound logical error originating with that unproven assumption which the evidence introduced doesn’t actually support despite all claims..

This problem of misreading documents which have some superficial elements which can be misconstrued by those inclined to look for nefarious meanings is remarkably common. It becomes even worse when the documents deal with legal terms or concepts which the readers are unfamiliar with, or when they use foreign phrases, usually in Latin, which can be easily mistranslated to produce nonsensical or self-serving results.

Entire pyramids of conspiracy theory are built on this kind of illogic, and their delusional adherents will cling to them relentlessly so that their entire delusional world view isn’t brought crashing down by pointing out their foundational error.

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While there are many Senators and Congressmen on both sides of the aisle who have embarrassed themselves in public in one way or another, especially at last year’s health care townhalls, there are a few figures who stand out as so dimwitted and egotistical that they deserve special recognition. It may be that we’ve always been plagued with these elected buffoons, but now with the 24 hour news channels and everyone posting videos on YouTube, every desire to hog the spotlight is indulged and every misstep is well documented.

To see how bad things have gotten we just need to look at the recent behavior of two elected Democrats who have humiliated themselves and their party for very different reasons, but who both stand out as sickening examples of why the people, including increasing numbers of Democrats, are looking for any way they can find to vote them out of office.

The big star of the idiot left right now is the egomaniacal Alan Grayson (D-FL) who is attracted to the news cameras like a moth to the flame and always has something moronic or insane to say when the camera focuses on him. YouTube has become a virtual monument to his unbelievable soundbytes and bombastic partisan tirades. He’s good TV because he can always be counted on to say something nuts and offensive and stir up debate.

Grayson reached the pinacle of nuttiness and bigotry this past week when he accused a Florida doctor of racism because he doesn’t want to serve voters who supported Obamacare. He has also recently called a lobbyist a “whore,” called Dick Cheney a “vampire” and called Republicans “knuckle dragging neanderthals.” Grayson loves the camera and has plenty of partisan insults and colorful language to throw around. The good news is that credible Republicans are lining up to challenge Grayson this fall, including Tea Party favorite Patricia Sullivan. The district has traditionally voted Republican and with Tea Party activism so strong in Florida Grayson might be in trouble.

While Grayson is a camera-loving blowhard, the other stellar Democrat I have to draw attention to is Congressman Phil Hare (D-IL) whose comments caught on video last week have gone viral on the internet. In the process of defending Obamacare, Hale commented “I don’t worry about the Constitution” and then confuses the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and says of his oath to uphold the Constitution, “it doesn’t matter to me.”

Hare is running in the heavily gerrymandered 17th district in Illinois, a district basically designed to keep any Democrat in office, yet despite that he has become so unpopular that recent polling shows him losing ground to Republican Bobby Schilling who only trails by 7 points. No polls have been taken since his appalling comments on the Constitution became widely distributed on the internet, so if voters are paying attention Hare may be in trouble. Whether Hare gets elected may be a real test of how awakened the American people are. Even Democrats ought to be turning against such an obvious fool. There have to be some limits to partisan loyalty.

They say that most Democrats will vote for a yellow dog or an old rag if it has the Democrat label attached to it, but there are some signs that Democrats are beginning to realize how they have been betrayed by their party of choice. Contrary to the frequent claim the tea parties are a right-wing phenomenon, a recent poll shows that 13% of the tea party membership is made up of Democrats and those numbers may be growing.

That’s a sign of hope, and if we can manage to get Grayson and Hare out of Congress the quality of the membership would increase immeasurably. And while you’re thinking about it, why have no Democrats come forward to condemn these representatives’ behavior? Are they utterly without shame? Democrat leaders actually praise Grayson periodically and secretly laugh at his bigotry, while Hare has thus far been given a free pass by his party. Does this mean that the whole party is as hate-filled as Grayson and holds the same antipathy towards the Constitution as Hare? If so, maybe they all need to be voted out of office.

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As he always does, the venerable John McLaughlin closed his show Sunday morning with a prediction, and it was one which would have done Cassandra proud. He predicted that by early next year we would see the passage of a national sales tax or value added tax.

This is hardly a new idea, but it seems to have gained credibility in the current environment of massive debt, deficits and uncontrolled spending. Most European nations have value added taxes and the idea was given serious consideration by Democrats last year. It's even similar to the FairTax which many on the political right support, with the key difference being that the intent of the FairTax is to replace the income tax while a value added tax would be levied in addition to other existing taxes.

Now, in the face of massive debt and ballooning obligations for national health care and social welfare spending, the idea of a national value added tax is becoming increasingly attractive to the administration and Democrats in Congress. It may not be the only way out of the financial crisis, but it is certainly the easy way out. After all, why spend responsibly when every new excess can be offset by placing ever greater demands on the limited resources of the working people of the nation?

As things stand right now, the tax burden on US citizens is already approaching the level of the most overtaxed nations in the world like Denmark, France and Japan. With the inclusion of state and local taxes, which range between 6% and 13% depending on the state, some Americans pay over 50% of their income in taxes. In addition, the distribution of taxation is very uneven, with the top half of income earners paying almost all of the taxes while lower income earners pay little or nothing. More and more government spending is directed towards those who pay little or no taxes as the tax burden on higher earners continues to increase.

This has already led to a feeling of desperation among taxpayers, who see the cost of out-of-control government spending coming out of their shrinking paychecks. It is this despair which has produced the Tea Party movement as a grassroots effort to stop the juggernaut of federal spending and debt before it runs over and crushes us all.

Everyone knows that the government's current sources of revenue cannot possibly meet their growing obligations. Of course, this doesn't stop the government from spending and spending. Rather than being responsible and making cuts, now they think that a value added tax is the easy way out. Each 1% in VAT would generate close to $1 trillion in new government revenue per decade, which means that it wold take a 5% VAT to offset the difference between the current budget and the 2008 budget. Add on another 5% if you want to balance out the ballooning future costs of social security and national health care.

That's 10% added onto the tax burden of every American who pays taxes, which comes down to close to a 50% increase in actual taxes paid for the average taxpayer. Because it is a sales tax its impact is much larger on the taxpayer than an equivalent increase in income tax as currently structured. In real terms that VAT is an enormous tax increase which will literally bring many hard-pressed working people to their knees. It will drive people into poverty and debt, destroy savings and investments, lead to bankruptcies and foreclosures as well as further weakening of national productivity.

This means fewer and fewer people paying more and more taxes. Taxpayers are protesting now. If a VAT gets passed on the same kind of partisan basis and disregard for the desires of the people as we saw with the passage of health care, the already high level of anger may well flare out of control. Taxpayers already have a heightened awareness of this issue and will see a VAT as a loaded gun pointed at their heads. Millions are protesting now. If a VAT passes it could be the thing which touches off outright revolution.

Of course, the mere threat of a value added tax along with the massive hidden tax cost of cap and trade may be enough to bring about a political revolution before any further dangerous legislation passes. Increasing numbers of Democrats are joining Tea Party groups, largely out of protest over government stimulus and bailout spending. The Democrats in power have been ignoring the will and the anger of the people, but if they won't listen, there's an election just seven months away and they can all be voted out of office.

Let us hope that our constitutional system of elective representation solves this problem before angry citizens go to greater extremes. If the political elite doesn't get the message that the era of tax and spend is over, then let's tell them that their careers are over.

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In a year when the Republican grassroots is emerging as a potent political force, the party leadership under Michael Steele seems to be lost in the wilderness. As the health care takeover, giant deficits, unemployment and a general excess of government drive voters to Tea Party protests and to the voting booths, the Republican National Committee ought to be on the spot to cash in on an unprecedented opportunity. Instead it finds itself mired in controversy, wallowing ineffectively and facing challenges to its authority.

The problems started when a year of successful fundraising, in which Democrats were outstripped particularly among small donors, was more than negated by high overhead and excessive expenses, adding up to a $6 million deficit with little to show for it with the fall primary season still months away. With money frittered away on limousines, expensive hotels and travel junkets, RNC Chairman Michael Steele may be losing the confidence of major donors at the time when he needs them most.

The latest scandal is minor compared to the financial problems plaguing the party, but it has nevertheless received the most attention. The media has had a field day with the story of an RNC staffer authorizing almost $2000 in expenses for one of its fundraising contractors at Voyeur, a Hollywood topless club with a lesbian bondage theme. They may have fired the staffer, but the controversy rages on.

Then, to top things off, the RNC's fundraising efforts have been further called into question as a result of an expensive mailing in which a typo in the response phone number connected potential contributors to a $2.99-a-minute sex line instead of the RNC phone bank. A lot of blue-haired GOP stalwarts were less than amused by the experience.

One result has been muted calls for Michael Steele's resignation as RNC Chairman, kept at a low volume by the heavy atmosphere of invective over race from the left, which raises Steele's value as a prominent African American in the party. It's hard to fire the highest-ranking black man in your party when the opposition is constantly calling you racist.

At the same time other groups within the party are looking at this as an opportunity to expand their influence and fill the fundraising and campaign financing role which would normally be the domain of the RNC. American Crossroads is hoping to take over as the warchest of party insiders while Family Research Council is seeking to take over as the campaign funding arm of the religious right. Meanwhile Tea Party groups and other grassroots organizations are having a lot of success raising money and drumming up support for the large cadre of more libertarian candidates running across the nation.

Despite his considerable charisma and effectiveness as both a fundraiser and a spokesman, Steele's organizational weakness and lack of fiscal discipline have hurt the RNC substantially. It may be going too far to expect him to resign, but if he loses the support of big donors and loses the confidence of the party establishment, he and the RNC run the risk of being rendered irrelevant. Because if they cannot provide the financial backing which candidates need, then much of their real authority as a party leadership goes with it.

As the RNC declines in authority it may create opportunities for other groups, but it also produces chaos and a lack of unity which could cost Republicans the chance to reclaim power in Congress that the policies of the Obama administration have created for them.

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