Minuteman Simcox Suggests A First Amendment Based Income Tax Protest

The First Amendment guarantees citizens the freedom of speech, press, religious liberty, assembly and the right to petition their government for redress of grievances. It is that last little overlooked freedom that interests Chris Simcox, the President of The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. When I interviewed him at CPAC he elaborated on the need for citizens concerned with illegal immigration to use our Bill of Rights and some other simple tools to amplify our growing dissatisfaction with the White House and Congress over their stunning lack of due diligence.

I am not certain how squared Mr. Simcox is with the fact that the petition clause only implies that the government merely has to acknowledge the grievance, not act on it.

But he seems intent on stretching this "soldier of the First Amendment" to the limits of its duty to the American citizen. He suggested to me that the acknowledgment that our government is broken would trigger grounds for a legitimate income tax protest if the government offered no remedy by way of enforcing its existing immigration laws.

His theory sounds simple enough. If President Bush and Congress think it is impossible to arrest and deport 20 million illegal aliens, how will they round up 20 million tax objectors?

The Current Tax Payment Act of 1943 was passed for many reasons not the least of which to make that kind of tactic legally difficult, if not impossible. Since the domesticated and docile American public doesn't understand its rights, much less how to enjoy them, it may never come to that. Mr. Simcox then offered that an alternative action might be pulled from a Union play book.

He is certain that if long haul truckers would park their rigs for just one day and refuse to haul freight over roads crowded with illegal Mexican drivers, the economic impact might catch the attention of the White House much like the International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike of 2002. I joked that I wished they could remain idle until the 40,000 National Guard needed were actually deployed to the border. Chris estimated that could take six weeks once an order was given.

After five days in 2002 our nation was choking on its own trade stagnation. Six weeks would be the ruin of this country. No more, I suppose than 30 million new mouths to feed, educate and hospitalize.

When I asked the Minuteman about Mr. Chertoff's limp political nonsense commitment to "the right fencing at the right place at the right time," he said, "The President is responsible for the crime that he allows and should be held accountable. He should tear down the fence around the White House, install the virtual fence he is so fond of and replace his cabinet with guest workers to show Americans how effective such a plan would be."

Well alrighty then.

___________________________________________________________________________

When I was at CPAC interviewing Mr. Simcox, all I could think of was RANCHER.

Comments

[Sniper One]

I'll be the first to admit that pissing off the IRS scares me. The idea of sticking a finger in it's eye sounds appealing, but I'm not sure that the end result would be nearly as much fun. Just ask Al Capone.

[Stealthkix]

If America had balls, we could force things to happen in our government. Unforunately it seems that only the liberal ultranut activists have balls in this country, because they are the only ones we ever see trying to force issues and they are the ones we see changing policy. For the worst. I'd love to see conservatives making as much noise as the liberals, even to the point of pissing off the IRS.

[Rue-Mur]

Friends, Americans, Countrymen! Lend me yo' ears! Please? Bitte? Por Fa Vor? THE PROBLEM ain't the @#$% IRS! The "PROBLEM" is that We The People elect our favoriite high school idiots every two years who return to Congress and do absolutely NOTHING for another two years; except fatten up their own salery and retirement package and screw up everything else they can get their hands on. WE ARE THE PROBLEM! AND, it ain't the stupid civil service geeks in the IRS either! Next time ya' wanna' let off some steam --or throw a brick-- at the damn fool who's causing all yer' problems, go in the bathroom, look in the window hanging over the sink, and let 'em have it with both barrels! (Ever get the feeling yer' handcuffed to a pipe, in a cabin below the waterline, on a ship called the 'Unsinkable TITANIC"?)

[Rancher]

Can't find 20 million illegals? How many packages does Fed Ex track daily? Mail each illegal a package.

[JANE SAYS: You are going to make me WET MY BRITCHES!!!!! I hope you like this..KISSES...;) janie]

[Escondido Greengo]

Don't know why everyone's so excited about illegals, especially the Mexican and Central American Illegals. Haven't you heard? The Damocrats and Repolicans agreed years ago to "Do Nothing" until the year 2020, then --it was expected-- the Mexican Illegals would be greater in number than the population of Mexico itself, and a Proposition would be put on every state ballot to annex Mexico and all of Central America down to the Northern bank of the Panama Canal. (Do you think Jim'a would have signed over The Zone for nothin'? Course NOT. He ain't that stupid!)

[mRed]

Whoa, some heat here. Most elected officials are not idiots and those that say they are probably also have conspiracy theories about fluoride.

We are talking bad law and worse enforcement that is entangled in federal government control.

We are also talking about small and large business, also entangled by federal control, employing illegals in jobs they can't fill. They can't fill the jobs because no American will work them, but because they need more workers.

We are also talking about and feeling the effect of a federal government out of control, specifically in terms of size and power. The above mentioned IRS geek is just an indicator. The bureaucratic stranglehold on good government is empowered by liberals and Democrats.

Don't believe it? Look at the power of bureaucrats altering national and foreign policy through direct or indirect actions and inactions.

How do you seek redress from government when a significant portion (majority?)of the population is beholding to government for employment, contracts, tax credits, handouts and subsistence? Hell, America could become a West Virginia where over 50% of the population is employed by some form of government.

Want to tackle a national problem, find the cause. How many local law enforcement agencies, who know where the illegals are, have been ordered not to do anything by a (insert department) geek?

[anon]

From North Carolina:

"College town" county in N.C. haven for illegal aliens
Original Source: Raleigh News and Observer

"Orange County and its Sheriff's Office have officially taken a hands-off approach to immigration enforcement. A resolution adopted Tuesday by the Orange County Board of Commissioners essentially tells law enforcement this: Don't actively look to detain illegal immigrants who haven't committed other offenses. It's a tack already adopted by police in Chapel Hill and Carrboro."

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=174468

Original article requires N&O subscription