A few years back I had the privilege to be a staff member of a Congressional campaign. The name of the candidate was Wes Riddle, a godly statesman. Wes has been abroad building up his war chest to eventually run again. Apparently, the condition of America has deteriorated to the point, he felt prompted to return home and participate in what is being termed as a "Campaign for Liberty."
As of late, I've been wondering at what point do men of good conscience unplug from the Washington DC matrix? At what time, do godly patriots refuse to pay taxes to a monster that is using the money to terrorize them, destroy their liberty, and forfeit their children's future?. At what stage, do men of good will become immoral themselves by supporting tyranny with their tax dollars?
We are swiftly approaching the place in our nation's history where a Prof. by the name of Hittinger cautioned, "Unless the new constitutional order is profoundly reformed, citizens of rightly formed conscience will find themselves in a crisis. Insofar as private citizens have given tacit consent to the new regime, and thus allowed it to speak in their name, they face an unavoidable moral crisis."
This moral crisis is upon us. It is not going away. In fact, it only stands to reason it will continue to worsen under the current administration. As it stands, a tax revolt may be the last measure by American citizens with "rightly formed consciences" to provide a check and balance to the beast in Washington DC. It will not work, of course, unless a significant amount of patriots stand together and refuse to fund a government that is trampling upon our God-given rights according to the Declaration of Independence. If only a few respond, they can be easily arrested and put away, but if millions "Just Say No" to taxation without representation, perhaps a new birth of freedom will spring forth to provide a future and a hope for our posterity.
The following is his article on Tea and Taxes.
Tea and Taxes
On the night of 16 December 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Mohawk Indians and boarded ships in Boston harbor. A large number of citizens gathered to watch as they broke open hundreds of chests of tea and heaved them overboard into the water. This radical act of protest known as the Boston Tea Party stemmed from the English government's attempt to help one company in dire financial straits off the backs of the people, through higher taxation. Sound familiar? The East India Company was the AIG and Government Motors of the day. Instead of letting the company go under or forcing it to unwind and sell off, the government decided that it was just too big (or too well connected) to fail. So the government subsidized this company through measures that inevitably raised taxes on hardworking Americans. It was the trigger for a Revolution to come, and it meant that things would get much worse for Americans before they finally got better.
Generally that's how the price of freedom gets paid though, i.e., it can be pretty steep up front. Power doesn't let go easily. Ever so often a present generation reaches down deep to find its courage and its character. It chooses not to pay higher taxes but chooses instead to pay in terms of sweat and tears and sometimes blood, so that their children and grandchildren won't have to pay as much of either. Otherwise, the path of least resistance leads to total submission. "Taxation without representation is tyranny." Americans are not easily saddled. Texans never submit to tyranny plain and simple. Start to ask the questions, whether you are in fact represented therefore at the Federal Reserve, or at big banks, or on boards of directors of failed businesses that now have their hands in your pocket, or at G-20 summits when promises get made to submit to international regulatory regimes. Ask yourself whether Congress can legitimately represent you after failing so miserably at oversight, and then by passing a $500 billion tax bill without reading it. Man "It ain't me-I ain't no fortunate son!"
To tell the truth, I just want to be left alone. But I am cognizant of the price that must be paid, willing as it were to endure hardship to bring about a brighter tomorrow. It is not the endurance of parasites about which I speak, however, nor the press of a hard floor on my forehead, with baby boots of bureaucrats on my back. Liberty is worth all other sacrifice now and forever, and I have enlisted therefore in the Campaign for Liberty, both literally and figuratively. On April 15th the citizens of Bell County gather at Confederate Park in Belton, Texas (4-6 p.m.) for speeches, signs and protest, voter registration and non-partisan organizing efforts. The irony is not lost on the location, given that what we need now more than anything is an army of All-American Rebels to join the cause. Similar tea parties on Tax Day are occurring throughout the state and nation. Those who have decided that we are Taxed Enough Already (TEA) will be there. Those "tea'd off" at decisions being made in Washington with unimaginable consequences for us and for our descendants will be there.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts the government's $3.6 trillion budget will lead to deficits multi-trillions of dollars more than the administration is saying. Folks the gloves are off. A professor of history at Southwest Baptist University writes that as Americans we are entering a period reminiscent of the German people during the 1930s. According to his analysis, we have a socialist regime looking for a pretext to tyranny. The economic crisis provides perfect rationale for a command economy, just as the Great Depression did for smooth talking fascist rogues in Europe. In America the process arguably began years ago with confiscatory tax policies. The methods are thus already in place, but now the philosophical bent of what Grover Norquist calls "the Takings Coalition" is ascendant in national politics, which coincides with an economic emergency.
The combination is more toxic to liberty than all the bad assets in banks. At no time in our history have we been as immediately threatened with extreme taxation. Some nine years ago Ron Paul wrote, "A casual acceptance of the principle behind high taxation, with an income tax and an inheritance tax, is incompatible with a principled belief in a true republic. It is impossible to maintain a high tax system without the sacrifice of liberty and an undermining of property ownership. If kept in place, such a system will undermine prosperity, regardless of how well off we may presently be." The proverbial chickens have come home to roost, but if the people will act quickly and forceful enough like Sons and Daughters of Liberty, then this could be the day and the hour we slap government back down to its constitutional size. The only way to do that ultimately is to puncture its immense moneybag, but in the meantime we should serve notice that it better keep its hands to itself.
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Wesley Allen Riddle is a retired military officer with degrees and honors from West Point and Oxford. Widely published in the academic and opinion press, he ran for U.S. Congress (TX-District 31) in the 2004 Republican Primary. Email: wes@wesriddle.com.
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