Trump's Tariff Decrees Check All The Wrong Boxes

They are illegal, idiotic and irresponsible, among other things. Let's discuss.

TAKING THE ISSUES IN ORDER, we'll begin with "illegal". This critique is self evident and requires little elaboration since what are called "tariffs" are just taxes (import duties, in this case) like any others. The authority to raise (that is, impose) taxes rests entirely-- by Constitutional specification-- with Congress.

Congress has no authority to delegate or transfer or relinquish that taxation authority to the president. Indeed, for Congress to do such a thing would be a grossly unconstitutional subversion of the separation of powers that is the core of our governmental structure.

The fact that Congress has purported to give away its taxation authority in regard to tariffs under so-called "national emergency" acts (or otherwise) in no way makes lawful the such a transfer of power, nor does it make lawful the president's exercise of the taxation authority. (Such "national emergency acts" were resorted-to as authority for all the illegal COVID decrees, both at the national and state levels-- a drill-down on their invalidity written during that sustained and ruinous interval can be found here, and is highly recommended.)

Bear in mind that in the case of Trump's new tariff decrees, we are not talking about adjustments in tariff rates already properly imposed by Congress on certain foreign goods so as to equalize the price of foreign-made products with competing American-made products which are more expensive to manufacture domestically (a mere tweaking discretion elaborately detailed in its exercise by Congress as part of its initial tariff legislation and which has been upheld by the Supreme Court in the past).

On the contrary, by his new decrees, Trump is purporting to impose, on his own authority, wholly new tariffs-- which is to say, wholly new taxes-- on the American people.

HUGE new taxes, in fact, of a form and effect very much like a national sales tax.

All of them illegal.

As an aside, but in light of all the "This is gonna make us rich!" rhetoric that has accompanied the rollout of these tariff decrees, it's worth pointing out that not only are taxes, of the tariff import duty variety or any other, not part of the president's portfolio, neither is "the economy". The president's duties are confined to seeing to it that the laws passed by Congress are faithfully executed, proposing and negotiating treaties with foreign nations which are acceptable to the Senate (and which are not inconsistent with any other Constitutional provision), appointing ambassadors and judges and other officers of the United States (again, with the approval of the Senate) and serving as commander in chief of the United States armed forces and of the militia of the several States which have been called into service of the US.

Beyond those few and narrow duties and powers, the president is authorized to issue pardons, convene both houses of Congress (on extraordinary occasions), adjourn both houses when they are unable to agree on a date of adjournment themselves, and receive ambassadors and other public ministers. That's it. The president has no authority whatever to concern himself with, or do anything about, or in regard to, "the economy of the United States" (whatever that phrase is supposed to mean, since there are actually 330 million individual "economies" in the USA, not one overarching or aggregate "economy).

Indeed, though it needn't be dwelt on here, even Congress has no delegation of power in regard to any kind of "national economy", notwithstanding decades of misrepresentation of what is improperly labeled the "General Welfare" clause of Article I of the US Constitution.

THEN THERE IS "idiotic". Among the arguments deployed to justify Trump's tariff decrees are that these tariffs are reciprocal (and thus a righteous tit-for-tat fairness-- kind of a juvenile "two wrongs make a right" sort of thing). That is, because other countries are purportedly limiting some American manufacturers from selling as much as they otherwise might of their own products into these foreign markets-- at the cost of higher prices for goods among these foreign consumers-- Americans should become similarly subject to higher prices in retaliation.

Read that again, slowly. Yes, it says just what you thought.

You, an American consumer, are going to pay more for everything imported into the American consumer market, or nominally made domestically but which is affected by tariff-burdened manufacturing inputs, AND everything made domestically which can sustain higher selling prices due to its foreign competition now being forced to sell more dearly than had been the case previously. Which is to say, darn near everything, to a greater or lesser degree.

Whereas previously American consumers had benefitted from foreign producers' comparative advantages of easier access to manufacturing inputs, cheaper labor pools, and fewer expensive regulatory burdens (such as in regard to safety or environmental concerns), this will no longer be true. Even those Americans who will get a taste of the higher profits enjoyed by the newly-tariff-boosted domestic producers will only do so in an environment in which everything they buy is correspondingly more expensive due to Trump's thinly-veiled national sales tax.

Only the tiny percentage of people who will enjoy large shares of those boosted domestic-producer profits will see a net benefit from these tax increases (or those who live and do their consuming outside the country).

Contrary to another of the arguments used to justify Trump's tariff decrees, these taxes will not produce mass repatriation of manufacturers back to America. Some may well move back, to be sure, but not those whose manufacturing competitiveness rests on advantage considerations such as those listed above.

A manufacturer whose processes rely on raw materials only available cheaply in Malaysia, labor at rates below US minimum wages, cheap, lightly-regulated energy or the freedom to pollute generally will not choose to go out of business by relocating to (or back to) America and undertaking the burden of recreating itself from the ground up in the face of existing domestic competition. If no such domestic competitor exists, such a manufacturer will again just stay put, and its prices to Americans will simply rise due to the tariff.

All told, the only beneficiaries of Trump's tariff decrees will be the owners of domestic businesses able to raise prices up to those imposed on foreign producers by the tariffs (but who will also be subjected to the overall higher-price American consumer environment), and Uncle Sam, who will be raking in massive new tax revenues from a gullible American public that has drunk the Kool-Aid and believes that tariffs are paid by foreigners.

But high prices here at home are not the whole downside story, which brings us to:

IRRESPONSIBLE, 'cause a repeat of the Smoot-Hawley mistake (now sufficiently distant in the past that very few are alive to remember how that last massive tariff war worked out) is a big step down the road to ruin on a global scale. If there's a reason those in charge of government schools don't bother teaching history in any comprehensive and serious way any longer, this might be it.

Trade happens because every different part of the world has certain natural advantages in inexpensively producing certain things compared to every other part. This is the "comparative advantage" to which I referred earlier. Thus, each part of the world places a higher value on things produced elsewhere (which it is, itself, unable to produce as cheaply), and benefits by trading its own more cheaply-produced domestic output to another place's more cheaply-produced domestic output.

If East Elbonia (h/t Scott Adams) makes a pair of shoes with inputs of one man-hour (labor, materials and overhead), and it takes twice as many to make a pair in West Elbonia, which, on the other hand, has the same comparative advantage in making barrels of beer, East Elbonian cobblers and West Elboian brewers will happily trade shoes for brews. Cobbler and brewer each get something that would cost him two hours to produce at the price of something that cost him only one. Each are richer afterward than they had been before.

Interfering with trade, it therefore goes nearly without saying, impoverishes everybody that had previously been engaged in this mutually-beneficial activity.

And so it will go. Much, if not all, of the world is about to get much poorer, not least those of us in America. Last time around we ended up calling it the Great Depression.

Even as unscholarly a man as Donald Trump should know how this will go, and that leads to one more thing:

WHY? GOOD QUESTION... Well, let's look at who benefits.

Most obviously, of course, the corporatist elite, all of whom are given a simple excuse for significant price increases the blame for which will not fall on them, but rather on those evil foreigners.

Then, of course, there is the Washington swamp and deep state, for whom this massive tax increase is mother's milk.

And then there is Israel of course, from whose completion of its genocide of Palestinians and other aggressions in and around occupied Palestine attention will be distracted-- very possibly to the point of invisibility-- until all is done and dusted (to use a very pointed metaphor).

That this last one could be an answer to the "Why?" might seem a stretch to some, but since the tariff imposition is SO illegal, and SO idiotic, and SO irresponsible, the Israel thing has to be given a fair hearing. After all, Donald Trump has made crystal-clear that he is a prostrate (or enthusiastic) Israel-first operative.

Worse, Trump may be an "End Times" believer who views the ruination of the world as of no concern if done to bring on Armageddon (toward which such folks believe putting Israel über alles is a paramount necessity). This will seem very odd to many readers, I know, but it should be taken seriously.

People who believe this "End Times" stuff-- which appears to include pretty nearly everyone with whom Trump has surrounded himself, giving a very strong indication of his own mind-set-- REALLY BELIEVE IT.

They believe their strange, destructive ideas like the Jonestown people believed their own strange ideas, or the "Heaven's Gate" cult-- sincerely enough to die for them.

In the case of the "End Times" believers, they WANT the world to burn.

What does it matter if the economy collapses shortly before the conflagration begins?

***

SO, RATHER A DIRE PICTURE painted above, no? Two takeaways, from it, at least: First, Americans are now being subjected to an effective national sales tax, while the "income" tax remains in place. All the more reason for those who know to spread the truth about the latter to everyone they love, with an increased sense of urgency.

Second, it should be clear to everyone how critically-important it is to the safety of this great country (and perhaps to the rest of humanity) that the 8,000 lb. gorilla of the Leviathan state be stripped of its ability to wreak havoc while in the hands of whichever demagogue has snaked into the driver's seat with beguiling but false promises and foolish or outright bad intentions.

THE FACT IS, ONLY A REAL TAKE-DOWN of Constitution-defying Leviathan by the American people directly will deliver us from the evil that our past century-and-a-quarter of sleeping at the wheel has allowed to take root and grow like Topsy. And only starving the beast will accomplish that take-down, peacefully.

As experience has endlessly shown, attempts to reform that 8,000 lb. gorilla into a smaller, humble and obedient version will always fail. The entrenched institutional operators, which reform efforts-- even while underway-- invariably leave largely in place, will act in their own interests. We are left with, at best, a yet-more distorted and pathological caricature of the Founders' and Framers' bequest to their posterity than the one which prompted the reform effort.

The disciplinary mechanism built into the US Constitution as revealed by CtC is the only answer.

Hence, I repeat my question posed in the last several newsletters: In light of the revelatory fireworks setting the sky aglow over the last few months, with the American people freshly awakened to deep and wide government misbehavior on an epic scale, isn't this a good time to vigorously share the news that the longest-running of such scams, and the one most diligently concealed and defended, has been the pretense that the income tax reaches every economic activity?

Isn't this a good time to explain to people the simple, infinitely-well-supported-in-the-law fact that really, the tax is limited to gains from specialized activities to which the federal government is effectively connected, and that all their lives, Americans have been tricked into declaring their earnings to be of this specialized kind, when the vast majority of them are not?

Isn't it a good time to share with everyone the massive body of legal research and analysis, and the practical evidence of the correctness of that research and analysis, of which CtC and this website, losthorizons.com, are comprised?

Isn't this an especially good time in light of the Supreme Court having transparently weighed-in on the side of the truth just this past June for the first time in 87 years, during which interlude corrupt and voracious government officials, aided and abetted by private sector clients and a cowed lower court judiciary, instigated and nurtured the exploitative scam, which sucked up $trillions without interruption until CtC appeared 22 years ago and the scam began to crumble?

The answer to all those questions is "YES!" It IS a good time.

In fact, it is the best possible time.

I hope all of you seize this moment in our national life to get loud, proud and uncowed-- indeed, to get incessant!

If everyone reading these words were to begin and continue a campaign to direct all followers and friends with a simple message along these lines:

"You've been lied to your whole life about the income tax, and the truth is amazing and wonderful. Go to losthorizons.com/The16th.htm and start learning that truth.

Efforts have been made to dissuade you with disinformation from officialdom and other things that will appear on Google and Wikipedia (and from AI). Smears and attacks and even ugly lawfare have been used against the person who first revealed this truth in 2003.

You must ignore all that and take my word for it-- the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and this is a tasty treat when you just dig in. Hundreds of thousands of others have done so, recovering $billions in property taken from them as taxes which never should have been.

Trust me long enough to do just a few hours of reading and viewing. You'll thank me for cajoling you into doing so by the time you've finished."

The iron is white-hot right now, friends, and to top it off, we are in the middle of the 2025 season of lies when millions of erroneous W-2s and 1099s and such are flooding mailboxes nationwide, making the truth about the tax a matter of acutely-felt significance to the entire American population.

Strike, and strike hard, and together we can restore the republic.

BTW, one thing all of you can do to help is join X and follow me (click here to do so), find my posts (which you can do by choosing the "search" function and looking for "Pete Hendrickson (@losthorizons1)") and REPOST and COMMENT on them.

"Like" them too, sure, but REPOSTING and COMMENTING is what makes them more visible to others, and hence, more effective. Doing this might succeed in overcoming the shadowbanning to which I have been subject the whole time since first posting on Twitter back in 2011.

"In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

-George Orwell

Now, do you want this article to make a difference? It only will do so if YOU PASS IT ON TO OTHERS. Please do that.

Use the permalink address given above or below to post on social media. Or use the "e-mail this article" link to send it to someone else by that method.

This article is permalinked at this address.

Set a brushfire-- E-mail this article to a friend

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*****

Tools For Leveraging The CtC Superpower

You've got magic in your hands, if you will use it...

*****

The Income Tax Law, In Seven Pages

Really.

HERE IS THE LAW, IN 7 PAGES.

HERE IS HOW THE SCHEME WORKS, IN 8 PAGES.

HERE IS HOW TO OVERCOME THE SCHEME AND ENFORCE THE LAW, IN 256 PAGES.

Share these all, everywhere you can. Be your most creative self in sending and "selling" these links. Do memes; make gifs; respond to everything in the news that would be or have been better had the state been small, or if Americans kept their money for their own uses.

If you pay attention to the news and train yourself to apply these perspectives, you will see a dozen things of which you can make use in awakening other Americans to the virtues of having the income tax correctly administered. Please, for my sake, for your own sake, for the sake of your children and their future, make that use.

*****

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EVERYONE!!!

IF YOU'RE NOT ALREADY GETTING THE NEWSLETTER delivered to your email inbox, go to this page and subscribe to the group-- leave all options in their default states.

YOU CAN ALSO usually find (and comment, share and repost) links to new articles and posts on X (click here to follow me and receive the announcement posts).

If you choose the social media option (or use it in addition to other means, as I wish you would), PLEASE get the full value out of them by diligently "sharing" or "reposting" my posts! That will significantly improve their visibility to others, and very much help the cause!!

• My RSS feed:

(Members of the state CtC Warrior forums in AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MI, MN, MO, NE, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, SC, TX, UT, VA, WA or WI, will continue to get the regular announcements if the membership is set to receive email updates.)

NOTE: I will still not be engaging in correspondence by any of these alternative means-- those wishing to correspond with me should continue to use direct email, as specified here, for this purpose.

NOTE II: PLEASE help ensure that others in the CtC community know about this change in newsletter delivery!!

*****

Not Letting This "Crisis" Go To Waste...

...an important action item opportunity.

FRIENDS, THE SPORADIC EASINGS of the despotic measures to which most of the country has been subjected under since the onset of the COVID-19 hobgoblin narrative should not be allowed to bleed off the head of steam you probably had been developing. The offenses happened, and they're far from over. Stay hot.

And while you are all warmed up, and while others, if they're smart, are just as hot, I'd like you to send an email (and Facebook post, or whatever) with the following content to everyone you can (with a request that they pass it along, in turn):

[Name], since March of 2020 you've watched as over-fed state power has been used to literally destroy classical Western civilization and impose a new despotic paradigm. No dissent or debate permitted-- no permission or agreement sought.

YOU KNOW where this will end up if the arrogant state power being used to make this happen isn't radically diminished in size, influence, resources and popular support, and exposed as an opportunistic exploiter of legal ignorance (an ignorance which it has been nurturing in the average mind for decades).

Those things having not yet happened, you should be quaking in your boots-- and you probably are.

Isn't it time-- and past time-- for you to begin helping to make those desperately-needed defensive changes take place? There is only one way these things can happen short of a who-knows-what we'll-end-up-with explosion of violence. I'm going to show it to you.

Read this little two-page document. Click on the links at the end.

When you're done with that reading, you'll know what to do next.

BTW, REMEMBER, ALSO, THAT EVERY AMERICAN has lately been given a stark lesson in the fact that government officials at all levels will lie to you and violate the law without batting an eye. They will do so any time it serves their agenda, and you don't call them out for it.

If you know anyone who has been persisting in denial on the truth about the income tax, you know such nonsense is usually be grounded in some version or another of, "That can't be true..." or "They would never do something like that...". Now's the time to put a pin in that delusional bubble.

As the C19 hoax has starkly shown, "that" certainly CAN be true, and they certainly WOULD do something like that.

Use this evidence in all your outreach efforts.

"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error."

-United States Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

This article is permalinked at this address.

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*****

Regarding Trolleries

(Deceitful efforts to discourage Americans from learning the truth about the "income tax")

FOR ALL THE YEARS SINCE 2003 when CtC was first published, the government has engaged in a concerted effort to frighten people away from its truths. This effort involves official government websites and press releases touting an occasional court ruling that appears to be at odds with some CtC-revelation (but without details sufficient to expose the real substance of the ruling)-- and sometimes even more mendacious behavior.

Click here for the rest of this article

*****

Are the presentations and resources offered on this site and in my other work of any value to you?

Tim Kendrick has posted a video on YouTube regarding donations. I didn't know what to do about it to begin with; I don't do what I do intending for anyone to feel obligated in any way.

But of course, no one IS obligated. I will continue to make my work freely-available here, and in my books for only the cost of a cheap paperback.

Thus, even though I post it here below, Tim's very thoughtful personal resolution and encouragement to others is just an invitation for consideration by those who may not be conscious of the fact that I can't do what I do without support. No one is to feel any pressure from it; if it moves anyone to act let it be solely because it seems right.

*****

How To Be A Leader In The CtC Community

It's simple:

KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TAX IN DETAIL

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

KNOW WHERE TO FIND THE RESOURCES

BE FAMILIAR WITH THE SCAMS, THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS, AND THE TROLL-POLLUTION

TAKE CHARGE IN YOUR STATE FORUM, HELPING EVERYONE TO THINK CLEARLY AND STAY ON TOPIC

All-in-all, just be the sort of person for others that you would go to yourself for trustworthy leadership.

Leadership is a challenge. But it's not complicated, and you can do it.

*****

Are You Having Trouble Spreading The Word?

SKEPTICISM (SOMETIMES INVOKED BY FEAR) IS TO BE EXPECTED when you're trying to explain to someone that everything they've been encouraged their whole lives to believe about something as entrenched and significant as the income tax is basically nonsense. So here's a way to help cut through the resistance:

Ask your listener how he or she would react if you were to show an announcement from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue admitting that the tax doesn't apply to the earnings of most Americans and is misapplied most of the time because people don't understand how it works? Or how about if you showed a ruling from the Supreme Court saying the same?

Now you just have to explain that you're going to show exactly those things-- but because the state really doesn't want people to know this, these things haven't been said quite as forthrightly as we would all wish. It's going to take a bit more work to take these admissions in than is sufficient for just reading a press release. But it'll be worth the effort...

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The Liberating Truth About The 16th Amendment

IF YOU'RE NOT SPREADING THIS LINK with every bit of energy you can, to school libraries, homeschool families and community groups, your neighbors, your family members, your pastors and co-congregationalists, journalists, lawyers, CPAs, members of congress, tax-agency workers, Wikipedia, Anonymous, WikiLeaks, the Tax Foundation, everyone in the "tax honesty" movement, the 9/11 truth movement, other activist movements and everyone else, you have only yourself to blame for your troubles with the tax, and a whole lot else of which you might complain. It's on you.

WRITE A NICE, FRIENDLY AND BRIEF introductory note explaining what will be seen at the link-- cryptic is bad; excited is good-- and then send this WMI (weapon of mass instruction) far and wide.

Remember: Real Americans don't accommodate fog, lies and a sliding scale of adherence to the rule of law. Real American men and women stand up for the truth and the law, come what may, knowing that it is only by setting the bar at the top and enforcing it, come what may, that liberties are secured.

"Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."

-Thomas Paine

OUTREACH!!!

JOB ONE, PEOPLE!!! SPREAD. THE. WORD.

ONLY ONE THING WILL WIN YOU YOUR LIBERTY: Spreading the truth. Accordingly, I've assembled outreach resources into a new, dedicated page. Find it here, and please, USE THESE TOOLS!! I can't do this all by myself.

"In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

-George Orwell

*****

Other Voices (followed by an important afterword)

Romania-- The First "Post-Election" Democracy?

by Kit Knightly

In December 2024, a Romanian court cancelled the second round of the planned Presidential election and annulled the completed first round, citing (totally theoretical) “Russian interference”.

This caused massive protests in Romania, as you can imagine. The first round had been won by right winger Călin Georgescu following a social media-based campaign, and he was predicted to quite easily win the second round as well.

The Romanian opposition – denied a likely victory – took their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Then, earlier today, the ECHR threw the case out without even hearing it. Apparently, the Romanian courts were perfectly within their rights to simply indefinitely postpone their election on the basis of unproven allegations, and all those people who already voted and wanted to vote again can just go to hell.

This is the ECHR, which lectures the world on rights and democratic norms on the regular.

And everyone is apparently just fine with it. It’s crazy.

Imagine the outrage in the media if Putin or Trump had suddenly cancelled elections they looked like losing because “they weren’t going to be fair”.

Anyway, now Călin Georgescu has been arrested, and his supporters are taking to the streets, while  the Romanian government is set to crack down on “conspiracy theories” and other “misinformation”.

This anti-election narrative is growing outside of Romania too.

Ukraine, of course, hasn’t had any elections in years either. They also outlawed certain political parties, religions and television channels. Meanwhile, laundering billions of dollars/pounds/euros through the Ukrainian government to boost the bottom line of arms manufacturers is considered “defending democracy”.

Last month, former EU chairman Thierry Breton remarked that they had already had to cancel the Romanian elections, and might have to do the same in Germany. (As it happens the “right side” won in Germany, so I guess that election was fair).

To a smaller extent, nine local elections across the UK have been “postponed” for at least a year for unknown reasons.

This is not about controlling the result because they could accomplish the same thing by just rigging it. We know they rig elections all the time.

No, this isn’t about controlling the votes it’s about controlling the language. Taking words and tearing them away from their old-fashioned definitions. Even inverting those meanings.

Seeding the idea that democracy doesn’t necessarily have to include voting and that, in the right circumstances, voting is actually anti-democratic and cancelling elections is more “democratic” than holding them.

“Democratic” can become a free-floating concept removed from real-world application. It’s just a nice thing, something that we and all the people on our side just are, and all the meanies on the other side are not.

We have “democracy”, and it doesn’t matter how many elections we cancel or political parties we ban, or religions we outlaw or journalists we lock up or outlets we censor…we still have democracy. Because now it means whatever we want it to mean.

 Click here to read the rest of this article

...and then proceed to the afterword below...

Afterword

SINCE KNIGHTLY FIRST POSTED this article (in early March), Marine Le Pen, the plain front-runner to take over in the next election in France has been convicted on highly-questionable charges of embezzlement and barred from standing for office for five years. Keir Starmer's poll numbers have dropped to only 13% favorable and yet he remains undisturbed in the office of British Prime Minister.

At the same time that democracy as a method for choosing a government is being defined out of existence, a simultaneous assault on freedom of speech is in blitzkrieg mode across the western world, primarily focused on suppressing criticism of Israel at the moment, but setting the stage for broader and more successful suppressions of inconvenient speech of the various sorts seen during the COVID experiments on liberty.

Screechy, mindless, saber-rattling and militarism is rampant, with all the hazards that accompany them. The most important economy in the Western World (the USA) is falling into mercantilist delusions of the sort from which Adam Smith's wisdom (and that of the Founders, close students of Smith's work) had led America into prosperity, risking a world-wide wholesale return to ruinous trade wars (and the real wars which often result).

All told, there is a full-court-press underway to roll back and bury what vestiges remain of the classical liberalism that informed America's founding and had spread into Europe and elsewhere to the enormous benefit of every affected population, and to restore some form of feudalism as the political and economic norm.

The People, it has been decided by certain elites, don't make the right choices, and so the brief indulgent sojourn of allowing the rule of popular choices, informed by the free exchange of ideas, must end.

THIS IS A SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS TIME, make no mistake about it. I am able to sit in an objective bubble while writing about these things, calm and focused on the work. But these things of which I write, for this newsletter and many of those that precede it, keep me up nights.

They should have you on edge, too.

I have often quoted wise words of Justice William O. Douglas, as follows:

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."

As far down a dark path as we now are, it very nearly seems too late to bother with mere warnings like this.

Still, our brilliant Founders were visionary and diligent, and we here in America are blessed with tools by which we can still take a viable shot at setting things right.

Those of us with the integrity, education and wattage to oppose to do so simply have to bestir ourselves, stand up, and act, even if doing so means making sacrifices.

JOHN ADAMS SPOKE ABOUT such sacrifices and the reasons for them in regard to the first American Revolution:

“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”

Adams, of course, is saying that his generation must set aside its own more idyllic pursuits of painting, poetry, music and (were he speaking today) social media and the sports page, and instead attend to the harsher interests of securing liberty and the rule of law for itself and its progeny in order to allow those idyllic pursuits to be safely indulged going forward.

This wisdom is more roughly (but more completely and instructively) put in this formulation:

Hard times produce strong men. Strong men produce good times. Good times produce weak men. Weak men produce hard times. And so on...

We are in hard times, even while inundated by idyllic distractions like no people ever before. This can be difficult for the unwise to see, since most people have food on their plates and roofs over their heads, and we have dazzling technology all around us.

But at the same time we are beset by all the evils aforementioned. Our money is an ever-more debased fiction. We are under 24/7 surveillance by a state which thereby shows its utter contempt for our rights and the rule of law. We are about to have imposed upon us an internal passport.

More than just sabre-rattling, elective war-- in defiance of all Constitutional prescriptions and proscriptions concerning that subject, and without the least consideration of its moral dimension-- is a constant crime being committed in America's name in varying places around the world and against varying victims (with the ever-present hazard of world-ending escalation lurking in the background). Our public discourse is poisoned by a thick fog of shamelessly false, debilitating and exploitative propaganda and "narrative management".

As I said, we are in hard times. And we must therefore be strong.

Happily, being strong, against what is responsible for the hard times it is our moral and civic duty to overcome, does not yet require us to literally join in war on the field of battle as it did for John Adams' generation. That generation, having emerged victorious but also well-instructed on matters of securing liberty and the rule of law made wise preparations to ease the task for those who would follow.

That Founding generation built into the Constitutional structure they created the means for the peaceful disciplining of an errant and overgrown state such as the one with which Americans now contend, even in the face of official resistance. One of the major peaceful means of discipline rests on the overall structure by which the state is able to acquire the fuel (revenue) for all its endeavors, good and bad.

Built-in limitations on direct taxes having made them inherently incapable of dangerous exploitation, (and tariffs, whether properly imposed or not, being susceptible to a possibly very uncomfortable but nonetheless simple belt-tightening refusal to consume imported goods) all the people need to do in exercising the necessary state-restraining discipline is learn how and why to say "NO!" to improper applications of the income excise, in a legally-meaningful manner and context.

Those of us who have already received that liberating and empowering lesson need to help the rest of the American population quickly understand the truth about the tax, such that even though Washington remains in the hands of immoral establishment hacks and self-servers, it finds its ability to just carry on with chronic irresponsibility severely curtailed.

Such an effort is easier than ever now, with the US Supreme Court having just reaffirmed its 108-year-old ruling in Brushaber v. Union Pacific RR. Co., acknowledging the truth about the income tax revealed in CtC.

Remember, the arising and sustenance of the Leviathan state monster is a direct result of the successful mis-administration of the US income tax laws.

Shrinking that Leviathan state monster merely involves the reversing of that misadministration-- something that can be done by individual Americans, acting one-by-one, with no help or approval of any government official. Each such act makes use of state-restraining tools baked into the Constitutional cake by the Founders and Framers, and each such act WILL make a difference, however small. Most important, each such act will absolve the actor from the dishonor of participation in the heinous crimes their resources would otherwise finance.

You can find all of this explained here, along with links to some additional relevant resources.

Read that material, and then become an agent of change. Urge everyone you know to do both of these things, as well.

Seriously, people. It's time to stop whistling past the graveyard and start using the powerful and important tools with which our wise ancestors equipped us. That said, these days are also a good time to be keeping your powder dry.

P.S. DO YOU WANT THIS ARTICLE to make a difference? It only will do so if YOU PASS IT ON TO OTHERS. Please do that.

Use the permalink address below to post on social media. Or use the "e-mail this article" link to send it to someone else by that method.

This article is permalinked at this address.

Set a brushfire-- E-mail this article to a friend

Return to contents

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A Little Extra

EVEN AS ARDENT A STATIST as Abraham Lincoln, in announcing his willingness to burn the Southern states to the ground in order to keep them paying the tariff for the benefit of Northern interests in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, paid at least lip service to the Founders design of leaving control over the fuel available to feed the fires Washington wants to light in the hands of the individual citizenry when he said, "Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part; and I shall perform it, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means..."

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Lawyers: It's Way Past Time For You All To Queue Up!

"[Y]ou really need to familiarize yourself with Pete Hendrickson's absolutely magnificent work at his website and in his book(s). He has, brilliantly and lucidly, "cracked the code" regarding the federal income EXCISE tax(es)."

-Mark C. Phillips, JD

"...I find your work fascinatingly simple to understand."

-Jerry Arnowitz, JD

"Your book is a masterpiece!"

-Michael Carver, JD

"Received your book yesterday. Started reading at 11 PM, finished at 4 AM." "I have 16 feet (literally 16' 4.5") of documents supporting just about everything in your book." "Your book should be required reading for every lawyer before being admitted to any Bar." "I hope you sell a million of them."

-John O'Neil Green, JD

"Thanks again for your efforts, Pete. They mean an awful lot to a lot of people." "As an attorney, I am humbled by your knowledge and ability in navigating the law. THANK YOU for your hard work and sacrifice."

-Eric Smithers, JD

"I am an attorney and want to give a testimonial to your book, which I find to be compelling. I am exercising these rights for myself and my adult children. I'm even considering making this my new avenue of law practice."

-Nancy "Ana" Garner, JD

Learn what these colleagues already know, then step forward and become part of a coordinated, mutually-supportive squadron focused on developing strategy and deploying the law in courtrooms across the country. There's a lot of suing that needs doing right now.

Are you ready for a challenge that'll put some real meaning behind all the effort you went through to get your credentials? Send me an email.

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Are You Ready For More Power?

"Peter Hendrickson has done it again! 'Upholding The Law' does for individual liberties what 'Cracking the Code' did for tax law compliance: exposes the reader to the unalienable truth!"

-Jesse Herron, Bill Of Rights Press, Fort Collins, Colorado

Click here for more information

And don't miss:

Was Grandpa Really a Moron

picks up where 'Cracking the Code- The Fascinating Truth About The Income Tax' leaves off.

Click here for more information

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Do you have a victory to share? Click here to learn how to do so.

Learn The Liberating Truth About The Tax

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Do you know someone truly steeped in the Kool-Aid?

I mean someone who finds it easier to believe that the far-better-educated, far-more-suspicious-of-government Americans of a hundred years ago were complete morons who granted authority to the state to take whatever it wished from themselves and their posterity than to imagine that they themselves simply misunderstand the true nature of the income tax? Even while knowing that their beliefs about the tax are derived entirely from the representations of those who profit from those beliefs (like tax bureaucrats and "tax professionals")?

Do you know someone like that? Shake them awake with the latest (sixteenth) edition of CtC!

Selected Features From Recent Editions:

It's not just speech rights at issue;

"Terrorist" Designations Are Interfering With Everyone's Foreign Policy

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This week, it's good to remember:

The Irish Letter; and "Two weeks to flatten the curve"

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Other Voices (with an important afterword):

Maybe the Reason the Trump Administration Wants to Deport Mahmoud Khalil is because there Is No Good Reason to Deport Him

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There are no "White Knights" saviors;

CtC Is The Only Solution

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Other Voices (with an important afterword):

Half-An-Hour With Thomas Massie

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Americans are awake at the wheel and ready to learn the truth about the tax...

The Iron Is Hot Right Now, Friends!

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Other Voices (with an important afterword):

The Cure For Our Unrestful Politics

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Ever wonder why so many in Congress are so protective of this privacy-violating provision?

A Disturbing Thought About Section 702

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Along with other uncomfortable observations,

AI Is Here. Welcome To The Matrix

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Other Voices (with an important afterword):

The LA Fires: The "Social Contract" Is Nonsense, And No One Is Coming To Save You

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A worthy and timely exercise:

Defining The "Deep State"

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Harris, Trump and the Uniparty; disqualifications for office and the fiction of a "Judeo-Christian" founding; and leveraging the immigration problem.

Random Musings And Observations

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Other Voices (with an important afterword):

Where Is Trump When Working Americans Need Him?

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Once again,

It's Resolution Day!

***

A few words about Moore, false flag theater, Trump II, and other amusements.

An Eclectic Survey Of The Current Splash Zone

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Other Voices (with an important afterword):

Time To "Allocate", Mr. President-Elect

***

Let's celebrate some more victories.

As We Move Deeper Into The Happy Holiday Season

***

Other Voices (with an important afterword):

America's Axis Of Misery

***

In order to overcome a lifetime's worth of propaganda, I'm...

Turning Down The Gaslight

***

Make sure your kids know

The Real Story Of Thanksgiving

***

A cautionary commentary:

The Delusional Style In American Politics

***

Well!

About Last Tuesday...

***

Along with a pet-peeve about the "college educated" demographic distinction, a few comments

Regarding Trump's Mandate

***

Here's a good question:

How Long Can Christians Continue To Turn A Blind Eye To Israel's Atrocities?

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Though it may sound odd to begin with, hear me out:

BRICS Might Be America's Best Hope

***

A few comments, and endorsements of a sort,

Regarding Next Week's Elections

***

Word to the West:

If Israel Attacks Iran, Russia Is Not Going To Stay On The Sidelines

***

Folks STILL aren't taking this seriously enough, so...

One Moore Try...

***

A nice little connect-the-dots historical review:

From 9/11 To 7/10: The Fake 'War On Terror' Collapses

***

Folks aren't taking this seriously enough, so...

Back Again To Moore

***

Regarding the immigrant invasion:

Whether Or Not They're Killing Our Pets Is Small Potatoes, 'Cause They're Definitely Killing Our Constitution

***

To many agenda-driven people, it's

America, The Candy Store

***

Regarding a thus-far unopened gift:

A Bit More About Moore

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Getting back to basics:

That To Secure These Rights...

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It's outrageous, but it's undeniable:

The Virtual Certainty Of Foreign Interference In The 2024 Elections

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Our interesting times continue to deliver...

It's A Good Time For Some More Victory Posts

***

Our interesting times continue to deliver...

Illegal War, The Orgy In Paris, Riots In The UK, And More

***

Our interesting times continue to deliver...

The Assassination Attempt, The J.D. Vance Pick, And The Biden Withdrawal

***

In light of its condemnation of it everywhere else,

Why Does Washington Support Racism In The Middle East?

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Gotta love it:

The Supreme Court Gives It All Away In Moore

***

It's been a busy last couple of weeks, so...

Regarding A Few Other Recent Events

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A new video resource:

The Income Tax Is An Excise Tax, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

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The video above is meant to make this unnecessary, but in the meantime...

Dealing With A Little Tax Agency Corruption

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Among other thoughts on current events, including the still-persistent MSM denial of election-rigging in 2020,

Does Everyone Know That Nuclear-Armed Russian Subs Have Taken Up Positions Off The US Coast?

***

Never needed more than now:

One Of The Best And Most Important Speeches I've Heard In A Long Time

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Among other thoughts on current events, including the Trump trial and verdict,

From Ron Paul To RuPaul

***

Among other thoughts on current events,

An Important Message To The Christian Community

***

Among other thoughts on current events,

Support For Israel Is Giving Christianity A Bad Name

***

Since the Swamp isn't able to discipline itself voluntarily in accordance with George Washington's wisdom,

It's Time For A New Law

***

Further...

It's Time To Demand The Courts Show Respect For The Fourth Amendment

***

Back in the saddle after my extended hiatus, I am pleased to start with:

A Couple Of Notable New Victories

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I must share a few more thoughts on current events, since...

The Dangerous Craziness Continues

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Apologetically,

So, It's Been A While Since I Last Posted...

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Amongst comments on other current topics...

A Prescription Against Today's Dangerous "DEI" Infection

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A couple of recent wins over the obnoxious "partial refund" ploy means...

Ending The Year With A Nice Christmas Present

***

Though I rather would do so, it would be irresponsible to speak of anything but the madness in the Middle East...

A Few Final Thoughts (For This Year) On Current Events

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Though I rather would do so, it would be irresponsible to speak of anything but the madness in the Middle East...

Israel: It Gets Worse And Worse

***

With a heavy heart, I find myself compelled to say:

Good-Bye, Ron DeSantis

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In the interests of inspiration and encouragement when Leviathan needs shrinking more than ever before...

It's Time To Share More Victories

***

Although it is a subject so polluted by mis- and dis-information that I hate to even think about it, I feel compelled to offer...

A Few Comments On Israel And Hamas

***

Continuing with my Twentieth Anniversary celebration, I offer:

Another Code-Cracking Freebie

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Re: cancel culture crimes; Newsom's "trans" admission; and selected observations from the debate...

A Few Comments On Current Events

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As the assault upon it continues unabated, I offer:

A Word To Its Critics From Western Civilization

***

A few weapons for fighting on behalf of Western civilization, including...

A Legislative Model For Dealing With The "Trans" Infestation

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It's the twentieth anniversary of the book's publication, and now it's time for:

CtC Online

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For the benefit of everyone in this community, I ask you all to participate in:

An Important Action Item

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Contemplating Russia's ban on destructive "trans" nonsense; a path to redemption for Disney; 'Oppenheimer'; and a little legal red meat, I have...

A Few More Thoughts On Selected Timely Topics

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Out from beneath their concealing bushels, we have:

Some Bright Candles With Which To Illuminate The World

***

Contemplating "national security" secrets; the need to call things by their right names: Section 230; and other matters, I have...

A Few More Thoughts On Selected Timely Topics

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Pay attention, people!

It's Declaration Day

***

A brief touch upon some of the many things that could be said...

On The 60th Anniversary Of The Deep State's Dark Awakening

***

The lesson to learn from...

Why Tucker Carlson Got Fired

***

To the counter-productive benefit of the war-mongers,

Even Well-Intentioned Commentators Persist In Getting The Ukraine Story Wrong

***

While continuing to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by, I've had...

A Few More Thoughts I Believe Are Worth Sharing

***

Recent revelations pose a serious challenge to American grown-ups:

The FBI Is Clearly Dirty And Rogue... What Are You Going To Do About It?

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While continuing to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by, I've had...

A Few More Thoughts I Believe Are Worth Sharing

***

More early educated filers have emerged, so...

Let's Enjoy A Few More Recent Victories, And An Excellent New Video

***

While continuing to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by, I've had...

A Few More Thoughts I Believe Are Worth Sharing

***

While sitting on the front porch and watching the world go by, I've had...

A Few Thoughts I Believe Are Worth Sharing

***

Mass murder in Nashville raises this disquieting question:

Do We Have More Time Bombs Walking Among Us?

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Democracy dies amid a din of state propaganda and narrative management. Hence,

America Needs A New Law

***

So...

It's A Girl!! (Along With Other Good Things To Celebrate)

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You'll want to sit down for this one, and then afterward, stand up.

The Ugly Face Of Gender Confusion Disorder

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"Social distancing" originated as a middle-school science project. There's another such juvenile notion being enthusiastically promoted...

A Few Words About "Chatbots", And AI In General

***

On a proper reading of the civil rights laws,

If Any Discrimination Is To Be Illegal, Ideological Discrimination Surely Qualifies

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It's time the grown-ups go on offense and get America on the path to...

Recovering From The Madness

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As this year's "tax season" commences...

A Few Words About Corruption And American Civic Responsibility

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A bad idea born of ignorance has once again reared its ugly head.

Regarding The So-Called "Fair Tax"

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The issue of Kamala Harris's qualification for office is becoming very important, because...

It Looks Like Joe Biden Might Be Getting The Hook

***

With winter coming on, it's a good time to remember:

The Biggest Snow-Job In History

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It's a proper season in which to report:

A Nice Victory In Tax Court

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The assault on liberty and the rule of law continues apace...

A Few Observations On Current Events

***

Among other clarifications and corrections,

What Pro-Lifers Mean By "No Exceptions For The Life Of The Mother"

***

The madness continues, and worsens:

On The Situation In Ukraine And The Nordstream Sabotage

***

Though only responsible themselves for one of two crimes being committed,

Aliens Wandering Around Texas ARE Illegals, Judge Napolitano

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"Trans care" crimes; mislabeling abortion; "identity politics"; and so-called "emergency powers"...

More Comments And Observations, In Brief

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Because they seem necessary:

Cognitive Inoculations Against Selected Misunderstandings, Misinformation And Madness

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Humbly offered:

A Legislative Agenda For The Protection Of America's Kids And Culture

***

A few comments on crickets, lesser meal worms, and the like, along with some great...

Pictures Worth A Thousand Words

***

It may seem strange to hear this, but,

A "Right To Abortion" Is NOT A "Right To Kill An Unborn Child" (Or Fetus, Or Whatever Label You Prefer...)

***

Other Voices (with an important afterword)

White Slaves And Other Inconvenient Historical Facts

***

It's about time...

A Welcome IRS Admission Debunking The "ARG44" Hoax

***

Selected observations on current topics, starting with:

What The Evidence Suggests Is REALLY Going On In Washington, And Why

***

This is not mere rhetoric:

What A REAL "Existential Threat" Looks Like

***

Regarding the inherent anti-Americanism of EVs and the illegality of "preferred pronoun" punishments,

A Couple Of Quick Comments

***

Sharing interesting information about a few things, including:

Key Facts About "Fossil Fuels"; A Miracle Medical Treatment; More...

***

Purveyors of gender confusion have succeeded in a disturbing imposition of,

Life Imitating Art

***

As I celebrate more real American heroes, I have to ask,

How Many Times Does This Have To Be Said?

***

The Founders understood, and we should, too:

Why Americans Need Weapons Of War

***

See Prior Editions In Their Entirety:

Newsletter Archives

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Get All Newsletters As They Are Published:

Newsletter Delivery Options

***

Btw, a copy of CtC from anywhere except the link above may not be a current edition. CHECK. It matters. Also, there ARE no e-book, Kindle or .pdf versions of CtC. Don't get taken in by efforts to sell you-- or even give you for free-- any such thing.

Get The Short, Easy Intro To The Liberating Truth About The Tax

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A Few Words About "Climate Change" Fraud

You NEED to defend yourself and your kids against this now-high-inertia effort to destroy liberty.

Watch this fascinating 12 minute video on how climate data are misrepresented.

Then share this link with everyone you can

H/T to Jonesy for circulating this fun little meme and video link.

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Hey! If you're not getting the newsletter delivered to your email inbox every Monday, go to this link and subscribe to the group-- leave all options in their default states.

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Which Storm Is It Going To Be For You? 1776's? Or 1984's?

Choose wisely and well, and may the FOURCE be with you.

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No one can guarantee success in all they do in life. But anyone can guarantee that they DESERVE success in anything they do.

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Rick Van Camp's Excellent Outreach Letter

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Notes And Tips For Educated Filers

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A Two-Minute Review Of CtC

David Bindel reminds us that there's either the rule of law, or there isn't.

HEY! SAYING IT AGAIN!! DON'T YOU WISH YOUR INSPIRING BEING-THE-STORM VIDEO was posted? This is easy to do, and very important (plus it can get you some great LHC swag!). See (and carefully read) these guidelines and encouragements.

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Eric Copenhaver With A Great Video Testimonial

SEE MORE GREAT VIDEOS.

Learn how (and why) to share YOUR testimony, here.

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The Best Response To Tax Agency Bad Behavior

This simple step will make a world of difference in how things end up.

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IRS Desperation Gets Truly Bizarre As CtC Warriors Continue To March Forward

A "Notice of Deficiency" for... $0. The most imaginative writer in Hollywood couldn't dream this stuff up.

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JFK conspiracy? No problem... Income Tax conspiracy? C'mon, man, don't be silly! How could that ever happen?!

Cognitive dissonance in action.

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Do You Know Who Pays For All That "Patriot Theater" At The Stadium?

Every victim of the "ignorance tax", 'cause it's all just statist consent-engineering propaganda.

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The 'Watching the Watchmen Amendment'

If you're not talking this one up everywhere and helping generate a buzz, you don't really want liberty and the rule of law...

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Did you miss the 'Set Your Church Free' commentaries?

Set Your Church Free

Ignorance of the true nature of the "income" tax has gagged, gutted and seduced-into-disgrace America's ministerial community. This must change.

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You're a passenger on a riverboat that relies on regular contributions of fuel from the passengers to keep moving forward. You see an unsurvivable waterfall ahead, and note a soon-to-be-irresistible current growing stronger each day. What does common sense suggest?

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Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

CtC Warrior SanDiegoScott has put together a great little 20-question quiz to test your knowledge of the law regarding the United States "income" tax. Test yourself, test your friends and family! Test your accountant and tax attorney, and help them learn the liberating truth!!

Click here to take the test

Click here for more Tax IQ tests

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"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

-James Madison

How About You?

Are You Governing Yourself?

Get The Knowledge, Reclaim Your Power, And Stand With The Founders

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There is little more important to the long-term health of America than how our children are educated...

HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS!

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Want to get on the Newsletter mailing list? Just click here and subscribe to the group, leaving all options at their defaults!

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Some Observations Regarding Educated And Accurate Filing

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IGNORANCE TAX: An unnecessary income tax exaction suffered out of ignorance as to lawful objects of the tax and the means of its application by someone too lazy, frightened or misled to learn how it really works and to what it really applies.

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"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error."

-United States Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

The Choice Is This Stark

Wear this new T-Shirt proudly, and tell the enemies of the law that if they don't like Constitutional limits, they should find someplace else to live!

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'The BOSTONIAN'S Paying the EXCISE-MAN, or TARRING & FEATHERING' (1774) (How our forefathers responded to arrogant "Rule of Law defiers"...)

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The willingness of some people to trade liberty for convenience is without limit...

Regarding "Tax Reform"

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