On Sun, 21 Dec 1997 23:19:36 -0500 Duncan Frissell wrote:

I sort of like Tim's reasoning.

It's reminiscent of Frank Chordorov's remarks back during the McCarthy Era. "If you're worried about Communists in government jobs; get rid of the government jobs."

Required reading for revolutionaries of the digital era, from a very bright light of the 1950's and one who did much to shape the movement that became libertarianism. Following are two excerpts, the first from commentary on a current Web page, the second from Chodorov's 1954 book. "The Sixteenth Amendment passed because the country thought only the rich would pay. In 1910 William Shelton, a Georgian, wrote that Southerners favored ratification 'because none of us here have $4,000 incomes, and somebody else will have to pay the tax.' This view proved shortsighted. As Frank Chodorov noted in The Income Tax: Root of All Evil: 'At first it was the incomes of corporations, then of rich citizens, then of well-provided widows and opulent workers, and finally the wealth of housemaids and the tips of waitresses. This is all in line with the ability-to-pay doctrine. The poor, simply because there are more of them, have more ability to pay than the rich.'" - www.elibrary.compuserve.com/qotd/10087/fetch/philk_04.htm "Author's Introduction: Argument "Tradition has a way of hanging on even after it is, for all practical purposes, dead. We in this country still use individualistic terms -- as, for instance, the rights of man -- when, as a matter of fact, we think and behave in the framework of collectivistic doctrine. We support and advocate such practices as farm-support prices, social security, government housing, socialized medicine, conscription, and all sorts of ideas that stem from the thesis that man has no rights except those given him by government. "Despite this growing tendency to look to political power as the source of material betterment and as the guide to our personal destinies, we still talk of limited government, states' rights, checks and balances, and of the personal virtues of thrift, industry, and initiative. Thanks to our literature, the tradition hangs on even though it has lost force. "But there are many Americans to whom the new trend is distasteful, partly because they are traditionalists, partly because they find it personally unpleasant, partly because reason tells that it must lead to the complete subjugation of the individual, as in Nazi Germany or Communits Russia, and they don't like the prospect. It is for these Americans that this book is written. They are the "elite" -- the questing spirits who in all times effect revolutionary changes. For a revolution now is certainly in order. And by "revolution" I mean the return to the people of that sovereignty which our tradition assumes them to have. I mean the return to them of the power which government has confiscated by way of the Sixteenth Amendment. "When you examine any species of government intervention you find that it is made possible by revenues. A government is as strong as its income. Contrariwise, the independence of the people is in direct proportion to the amount of their wealth that they can enjoy. We cannot restore traditional American freedom unless we limit the government's power to tax. No tinkering with this, or that, or the other law will stop the trend toward socialism. We must repeal the Sixteenth Amendment." - F. C. "XII. For Freedom's Sake [excerpted] "Whether there are any mystic forces pushing men along a path from which there is no escape, is a moot question. But there is no questioning the fact that throughout history men have regularly made excursions in quest of freedom, and that every one of these excursions was identified by its leadership. It is a logical inference therefore that when men of that stripe appear on the scene the cause of freedom is not neglected. Perhaps, after all, the present plight of freedom in America is due to lack of leadership. "If, for instance, those who prate about 'free enterprise' were willing to risk bankruptcy for it, even as the men of the Declaration risked their necks for independence, the present drive for the collectivization of capital would not have such easy going. Assuming that they are fully aware of the implications of the phrase they mouth, and are sincere in the protestations, the fact that they are unwilling to suffer mortification of the flesh disqualifies them for leadership, and the case for 'free enterprise' is hopeless. "The present low estate of freedom in this country must be laid to lack of the proper leadership -- to men who know that freedom is and who do not equate it with their own 'standard of living.' Whether or not leadership could have averted, or can still stop, the trend toward socialism, may be open to question; that a glorious fight for freedom might yet enliven the American scene is not. Whether a fight for freedom will be crowned with success, is less important than the fight itself, for if nothing comes of it, the improvement in the spirit of the fighters will be a gain, and they cannot help but keep alive the values that will make America a better climate for their offspring to live in. "There is no accounting for the emergence of these superior men, these "sports of nature," who sporadically shape the course of mankind. They come, as it were, from nowhere, and nobody has yet conclusively explained their advent. But, they come. When in her own time and her own pleasure Nature deems America ready for and worthy of them, she will give us the men who will make the good fight. It seems reasonable to assume that their first objective will be -- Repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment." _the_income_tax_ (subtitled _root_of_all_evil_) by Frank Chodorov, foreword by J Bracken Lee Copyright 1954 by Frank Chodorov The Devin-Adair Company, Old Greenwich CT 06870 Second printing Feb 1963 Third printing Jun 1974 (no ISBN) Although I don't know, I think it likely this precious little book is out of print. We Jurgar Din