(originally launched into cyberspace on 05/12/2008)
I admit, the following is a heck of a stretch, trying to see
something good in the current situation. But I'm trying to maintain
at least a scrap of optimism.
One of the biggest problems I see in the "tax honesty movement" is
that most people involved seem to be seeking that one "silver
bullet," the procedure or magic words which will make the federal
extortion machine vanish into thin air. I can't even count how many
times someone has come forward and claimed to have a sure-fire way
to achieve justice (for only $599.99, give or take a thousand
dollars). And over and over again, those "guaranteed" cures have
crashed and burned. In fact, some have crashed, risen again,
crashed again, risen again, and crashed again. Oddly, there are
still some people who are convinced that "method X has never
failed!" And they don't seem to be swayed by the anecdotes of all
the people who say, "Yeah, I did that, and got robbed blind and
prosecuted."
So how can this be a good thing? Looking for an easy solution was a
huge obstacle to people understanding the truth. As long as people
sought a quick fix, their attention would go to anyone pretending
to have such a fix, instead of towards actually studying evidence.
"Hey, did you hear that [fill in the blank] got a huge refund using
his method?" Every time someone said that, throngs of followers
would stampede in that direction, only to find, sooner or later,
that tyrants are still tyrants, thieves are still thieves, and
people in power won't give it up willingly.
In fact, when people were getting hefty refunds based on the 861
evidence, I was warning people NOT to cite that as proof of
anything. But some did, as have lots of others with lots of other
arguments. "This is true, because I got a check from the IRS!" I
hate to break it to such people, but the "slavery reparations" scam-
- -despite being made up out of thin air--resulted in far more
refunds than ANY "tax honesty movement" issue ever has. Does that
prove that the tax code really does provide for slavery
reparations? No. It proves what most refunds issued based on
unorthodox claims prove: that most returns get processed without
close scrutiny, no matter what they say.
Mind you, I'm not suggesting that people make the opposite mistake
either, thinking that if something DOESN'T "work," it must not be
true. When Irwin Schiff was convicted, I didn't say, "See, that
proves he was wrong!" It proved no such thing. When injunctions
were issued again lots of other people with other claims, I didn't
wave that as around as proof of anything. Again, the only thing it
is proof of is that people who have power will go to great lengths
to hang onto it.
Now that just about every unorthodox claim about the federal income
tax has had a proponent enjoined, robbed, and/or imprisoned, maybe
people will slow down, and instead of thinking, "What can save me
from the IRS?," people will start to think "Which of these, if any,
is actually true?" Ironically, if you DON'T dare to resist the IRS,
I believe that is the BEST time to start objectively,
systematically, carefully examining the evidence. It is a huge
advantage to NOT have your study be clouded by wishful thinking or
monetary interests. Probably the person most able to objectively
determine the truth at this point is the guy who says, "I'll be
filing and paying anyway, but let's see if there's anything to
this."
So, in a twisted way, maybe in the long run the feds' large-scale
attack on "tax heretics" of every sort will have a positive effect.
If people stop believing in a silver bullet, maybe they'll put a
little more effort into determining what is TRUE. The question is,
would you want to know the truth, if it wouldn't save you a dime?
If not, then you aren't much of a truth-seeker, so I don't mind
losing you. But if the truth matters to you all by itself, then
this is no time to stop seeking it.
Sincerely,
Larken Rose
http:///www.861.infoP.S. A few people have accused me of continuing to talk about the
861 evidence just to make a buck. For the record, it's been almost
three years since I made any profit from my "Theft By Deception"
video (and everything I made prior to that has since been stolen by
the IRS). Since then, all proceeds from TBD sales have been paying
back a large interest-free loan I gave to the non-profit "861
Evidence" mini-CD program. And, since that loan is now almost paid
off (not quite, but close enough), all proceeds from TBD sales from
now on will be collected to pay back Dr. Tom when he is done with
his stay as a political prisoner. He donated a LOT of money to
spreading the truth, and never asked to be paid back a dime. But
we'll see if we can get him a dime or two before he is released.
