Politics

It is Time for Civil Disobedience

The day before this year’s Independence Day, in my post, Revolution, I wrote this:

It is becoming increasingly likely that nothing short of civil disobedience—and perhaps even more than that—will be necessary to save the America created by our Founding Fathers. In my judgment, the next TEA Party should be more than a verbal protest and more like the original Boston Tea Party.

Do enough Americans have the courage to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to defy a government that is changing America into a socialist/fascist/statist society? If Iranians can defy the Iranian dictators, if Estonians can stand up to the Soviets, surely many Americans can stand up to the Obama regime.

Do enough Americans have the understanding of freedom—of capitalism—necessary to know what to stand for as well as against? Probably not. But even a chance for freedom is worth fighting for.

Now, on Veteran’s Day, I am willing to walk the walk. If Rosa Parks could refuse to give up her public bus seat to a white person (and endure prison for this ‘crime’), and if American soldiers can risk (and sometimes lose) their lives in defense of freedom, then I can risk being singled out by the Obama regime for extra persecution.

I will no longer submit to the government’s dictates that I pay for the health care and welfare of others, most of whom I would surely despise if I knew them.

Beginning on January 15, 2010, I will stop paying estimated income tax. On April 15, I will file an extension, so that it will not be until September 15 that the government will have a way of knowing whether I have ‘underpaid’ income tax. Perhaps by then, enough other Americans will have withheld tax payments and made the Obama regime relent or fall.

I hope that other Americans will take similar actions. My understanding of the tax process is as follows. If one is on salary, one can update one’s W-4 form so that little tax is withheld. If one is self-employed, one can refrain from paying estimated tax. If one takes these actions beginning in January 2010, and then files an extension on April 15, 2011, the government will not know until September 2011 whether one ‘owes’ tax. By then, we will know how strong the tax revolt is, and what our chances are of winning. Perhaps by then the Obama regime will have relented or fallen. If not, and if there are not enough of us in revolt, then one can still decide to pay tax plus the penalty.

Then there are some, such as I, who are willing to risk imprisonment. Perhaps this post itself violates numerous laws.

For me, the chance for freedom is worth the risk of ‘penalty’ or imprisonment.

We cannot rely on democracy, which is what America—once a constitutional republic based on the principle of individual rights—is degenerating into. Democracy is nothing more or less than the will of the majority, whether civilized or savage.

If we wait and do nothing. by next year our freedom of speech, and our best chances for organized resistance, may be gone.

Give me liberty, or give me death.”

4 thoughts on “It is Time for Civil Disobedience

  1. In the early 1960s, at the beginning of the US-Vietnam War (War of Sacrifice II). I was ordered to appear for a draft medical exam. I was considering refusing the draft, but the question became moot because of poor health which led to a “4F” rejection.

    During the later Vietnam War, I refused to pay the US telephone tax that was going to support the war. I received threatening notices from the IRS. Finally, the accountants from my employer, Hewlett-Packard, came to me and showed me the order that the IRS had given them to take the money from my check. The problem was that HP would then be forced to spend quite a bit of money for the special accounting procedure. I could not in good conscience drag them into it. I paid the tax.

    I have read, but not confirmed, that the new healthcare bill may require everyone to obtain insurance. Fines and even imprisonment might be forced on those who refuse. If that is true, and not merely a rumor, I will face the possibility of civil disobedience by refusing to buy insurance. The decision is not a light one. I have very low income but great health thanks to attention I have paid to it. I am prepared to accept the consequences of doing without insurance and instead withdrawing money from retirement funds. I am also possibly prepared to face the consequences of rejecting a command to buy insurance. I will not decide until I know the facts for sure.

    I wish you well in your own path.

  2. Ron,

    The full weight of the government will be brought down on anyone who follows this path, but you are morally justified and courageous to chose to resist. Unlike prominent Democratic politicians who refuse to pay taxes (most of Obama’s Cabinet appointees and many prominent Congressmen) anyone who refuses to pay for the fascistic National Health Care plan will be made an example of in the harshest way in order to stem a potential tide of civil disobedience. If enough people follow your example, however, the movement may grow to be an irresistible force. I hope that you overcome whatever they throw at you.

  3. I’ve taken steps to protest fascism in our country. I’ve started with my physicians. I’ve given them literature, most specifically Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s Medicine: The Death of A Profession. I explain to them how they will become postal workers if they don’t have intellectual ammunition to fight their enslavement.

    The bill does say that you will be put in jail if you don’t buy insurance. I have my own private insurance and will keep it as best as I can. Since I have been laid off and can only find sporadic contract work, I have to prepare myself for possibly losing my insurance. I will apply civil disobedience in not buying government insurance.

    Lets not forget that we are in a Census year. And from what I’ve heard this is a 28 page doozy. Where all types of personal questions will be asked. From time of day you are in your home, to your mental state. I will not participate in this Census. I will encourage all my friends and family to not fill it out!

  4. Here is a lead to information that might be helpful to anyone considering civil disobedience: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/11/imprisoned-for-not-having-health-care/

    I have two comments. First, the fact-check article applies to the bills pending in Congress, not to a final bill, of course.

    Second, I have found factcheck.org’s articles to be helpful because of the links they provide (at the end of the article) and because of their generally clear statement of the facts uncovered by their research. Of course, the “facts” need to be verified before acting on them.

    Also, factcheck.org’s interpretations and inferences are sometimes shaky because they may depend on a worldview that is not objective. E.g., in the article above, distinguishing between prison for not being insurance and prison for not paying a tax for not buying insurance is a distinction without a difference to one who is engaged in principled civil disobedience.

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