An Update And An Explanation

(Click here for the background, if necessary)

Last Monday, October 18th, I took a sick day, and so was home to hear my eight-year-old announce, “The bureaucrats are back!” And indeed, coming up the driveway were two U.S. marshals, there to serve me my seventh IRS-initiated subpoena since March.

This particular subpoena was a court order for me to show cause why I should not be compelled to provide the IRS with all of my business and personal records in furtherance of the agency's “investigation” of my book as being ‘the promotion of an abusive tax shelter’. This is the pretext being used to justify an increasingly vigorous campaign of harassment intended to distract and discourage me from continuing to write and speak; and, perhaps, to raise concern in the minds of potential readers about the wisdom of paying attention to what I have to say, lest they become the objects of similar agency attention. There is, of course, no investigation underway, for there is nothing to investigate. No evidence, or even argument, justifying the IRS’s effort has been advanced in any court filing-- indeed, this most recently served subpoena duplicates one served on me in June which the U.S. Attorney’s office itself asked the court to dismiss after learning what the summons, which it had automatically and without scrutiny filed upon the request of the IRS, was actually about. Less than one month later, the U.S. Attorney in charge of that office abruptly resigned, and the IRS is back with the same corrupt assault.

In fact, the ‘promotion of an abusive tax shelter’ pretext has been settled upon primarily because the title suggests that the offense to which it refers is largely undefined and variable of aspect, and thus that a speculative ‘investigation’-- based upon no evidence, but merely to determine if this kind of offense is being committed-- is appropriate, if not a necessity. The government hopes that a compliant judge will feel sufficiently shielded by the availability of this construction to serve as its cat’s-paw against me. The reality is that the “We’ve got to poke through Hendrickson’s stuff in order to determine if we have a justification for poking through Hendrickson’s stuff,” kind of argument that is being deployed to justify this corrupt harassment IS a necessity for the government-- because it has no legal authority for taking notice of me or my book at all, much less to attempt its suppression. Neither speech, nor the distribution of a book, are taxable activities, or for any other reason the business of the federal government. (The commercial sales of my book, in which the government has expressed no interest whatsoever, is not a taxable activity, either. I’ll not take the space or time to explain that here-- those interested must read ‘Cracking the Code- The Fascinating Truth About Taxation In America’.)

This is underscored, of course, by the fact that no effort has been made to actually challenge my message-- on the contrary, the government has responded to my message by surrendering to its accuracy. Not only have nearly all of those readers of my book who have had the fortitude to uphold the law been answered with the return of all of their withheld money, but I myself, despite being the object of this intense focus by the IRS, have received a full refund of everything withheld from me, two years in a row now. Under the circumstances, the proposition that my refunds are just SNAFU’s, or anything similar, is ludicrous. Indeed, in light of the facts, no conclusion is reasonable and honest but that what I have written is true. The only thing 'abusive' involved in all this is the government's desperate attempt to keep that truth from public knowledge, lest the spigot of money by which its endless unconstitutional practices are financed is shut off, and its clients are reduced to working for a living.

*****

I don’t bring this harassment to your attention seeking sympathy-- I don’t need it. These efforts by the government will be easily defeated. Furthermore, I have long since dedicated my life, fortune, and sacred honor (to echo the words of better men than me) to the cause of liberty and the rule of law. I stepped into this battle many years ago, and have had rougher going than this before. Much rougher, in fact, because for most of those years I fought on principle alone, and saw little hope for victory. Now I have established that the law is on my side as well, and victory is beginning to be realized. The kind of desperate, last-ditch sniping to which I am being subjected must be dealt with, but is insignificant in the larger picture.

The reason I am discussing this now simply to explain, to the many readers from whom it has been and is my great pleasure to hear, that when I preface my replies to many of them with the statement that I cannot and will not offer them particular advice, or assist them with questions about how to fill out forms, etc., it is because I am the focus of this intense effort to silence me. The government-- which spends my money and yours to do so, and thus recognizes no practical limitation on its efforts, however fruitless they may be-- will obviously seize upon any pretext to burden me with the necessity of defending myself. Among such possible pretexts are several which could conceivably be drawn from provisions in various laws related to giving advice to others. Therefore, though I recognize the irony of self-censorship in this case, I feel obliged to be carefully disciplined in my demeanor rather than risk being subjected to such a blizzard of assaults that I become, for all practical purposes, silenced completely.

I will continue to welcome all questions, and most certainly all comments. (The last thing I would wish to result from this commentary is the discouragement of any correspondent.) I will continue to respond as the constraints outlined above permit, and to direct inquirers to various resources and materials which I believe will assist them in determining the answers to their questions for themselves; and I will continue to post new material intended to serve that purpose. I will also continue to encourage all to visit, and participate in, The Lost Horizons Forum; and to proactively read through the voluminous material available at losthorizons.com.

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

-Samuel Adams

10/25/04

Update: Victory!