Happy Tax Freedom Day !

Yesterday, actually, April 23rd, was this year's Tax Freedom Day, the day the Tax Foundation estimated individuals completed paying average taxes to federal, state and local governments. More than food, clothing and shelter combined!  Speaking of the IRS, Chris Edwards at Cato found how certain harmless financial transactions you undertake can expose you to money laundering charges.  And if you don't pay taxes, even though the IRS claims they're "voluntary," you'll be jailed, as actor Wesley Snipes is about to find out.  Tax protesting has an honorable history, going back to the Whiskey Rebellion that some folks' hero George Washington viciously put down.

Yes, we're paying more in taxes than in food, and those food prices are exploding!  Further, hyperfocus on deriving power from anything but oil is aggravating the new problem of food inflation.  High food prices and food shortages, interestingly, are one of the many results of central banking and fiat currency (which was castigated by Tom Paine, who otherwise wrote in the 1830s about America's using charity to adequately care for the poor). 

Congressional control of food prices and supply won't work any better than Congress' pending bailout of home borrowers.  And you heard it hear first:  farmer unions are going to Congress to force the CFTC to stop commodity speculators, to keep the Wall Street credit crisis from spreading to rural America, due to "lack of regulation and oversight".  People still believe this?  Apparently they do, even ones schooled in Austrian economics, such as Mr. Skeptic Michael Shermer, the pro-evolution guy so many libertarians love - but a certain libertarian finds in Mr. Shermer's book a lot of mistaken Statist ideas. 

Skeptics like Shermer dismiss ancient, natural remedies that work.  It's a shame that Big Medica's (sic) schools are questioning the legitimacy of naturapath degrees.  Big Pharma, not just Big Medica, sees natural living as a competitor to its chemical/invasive solutions.  One can't blame them for backing fluoride in the water (since the sicker we get, the more profit they make - just observe Monsanto's GMO effect on the food supply), but it's nice to see this Canadian town rejecting such chemicals in their drinking water.  (Here's a map showing worldwide groundwater contamination).  The danger of professional medicine is endless, as chemotherapy for cancer now has been found to damage the brain.  Fortunately, Natural Solutions Foundation and related groups are drafting new proposals to ensure consumer access to health freedom, and have gotten the FTC to agree to consider banning untruthful vaccine ads.

With the deepening and widening recession, we still have a Perpetual War on Terrorism potentially spreading to Iran, and worsening Police State abuse of dissidents, even political activism.  So, activists, are you ready to attend ACLU's annual "lobby" day on June 8?  Whether it's domestic spying, dissident persecution or protecting your Rights, this is the time to act!  The media sure won't lobby for you, since they've sat on the story of Bush's approval of torture. Amnesty Intl and other activists are suing to get the CIA to divulge how large their rendition program is, and here's a movie to expose what we really do in our Iraqi prisons.  And dissidents continue to be persecuted, in this case effecting those merely desiring a proper investigation of the 9/11 terrorism (which the Libertarian Party now has added as a plank).  Nonviolent citizens - and longer sentences - are making US prisons more crowded than any others worldwide.

Speaking of spying, FBI Director Mueller testified before House Judiciary on his desire to spy on all internet use.  The judiciary, Murray Rothbard said, wasn't as independent as the Constitution envisioned.  With its approval of searches and seizures during otherwise illegal police actions, the court continues its sycophantic behavior.  One great reform idea from Reason is to expose District Attorneys to lawsuits, since the criminal justice system is becoming increasingly abusive of its citizens.  And instead of the Mark of the Beast (national ID), congrats to this state government organization for calling for the repeal and rejection of REAL ID.

One person Justice is abusing is a client, Siobhan Reynolds of the Pain Relief Network, who is suffering personal attack as she properly and bravely defends a victimized pain doctor.  With this in mind it's nice to see David Boaz' reminder that defending Liberties SHOULD equate with strong "law and order" policies and court decisions. 

One of the grossest Government violations recently is its invasion of the Texas polygamous property, despite, according to Cato's Tim Lynch, "not one child complaining about mistreatment".  CEI's Hans Bader says child welfare laws encourage "child snatching".  Libertarian Party presidential candidate Mary Ruwart is getting criticism for claiming child sex laws aren't as effective as their proponents claim.  How disgusting that some laws become so sacrosanct that a prudent risk-benefit discussion is prohibited!

A continuing government atrocity is the discrimination against people newly arrived in the US.  Instead of more government interference at the borders, let's support Ricardo Valenzuala's MexAmerica border free trade zone (although I'm not for the North American Union Government, which Bush just advocated.)  I discourage managed trade, and support free trade.  We shouldn't be closing borders or blowing up countries; we should be trading and traveling!  I love offshoring, including of medical services, in this case with South Carolina insurers bypassing their hospitals for Singapore clinics.  I only hope entrepreneurs join my client's Santa Clara sanctuary - an organic farm/holstic health clinic in Panama's mountains.  Entrepreneurship, worldwide, is the dream of humanity.  Last month I had the privilege to help out with a company's booth at a trade show for international construction. Imagine the possibilities if more people gave up their addiction to Big Government, how new small businesses could open anywhere on Earth, regardless of the fiction of borders and governments.

Folks afraid of immigrants also are afraid of lost jobs.  But Cato's Dan Griswold reminds us that manufacturing actually is higher now than previously - just look at all the things we make.  Europacific Capitol's Peter Schiff downplays this manufacturing list, saying the bulk of future productive capacity lies overseas, which is where everyone should be transferring their assets.  CLICK SHIFF'S LINK TO PROTECT YOUR OWN ASSETS!

For the rabid NeoCons barking for War on Iran, here's yet another poll patiently explaining to you mongers that Moslems and Arabs have no problem with Americans; their problem is with our policies.  Earlier this year I volunteered at the booth of the American Conservative Defense Alliance, which supports a constitutional foreign policy.  It was sad at this conference how many conservatives have hopelessly wed to NeoCon Imperialism and nationbuilding. 

But not all Elites are Neocons, and some elites from the military world oppose Imperialism, and even want radical reform of the government.  Former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer wants openness in government:  DISCLOSURE of unexplained phenomenon information thus far covered up.  I saw him speak this past weekend at Stephen Bassett's annual XConference.  Also speaking at that conference was Apollo Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who was so overwhelmed by the "oneness" of space that the following year in 1972 he founded the Institute for Noetic Sciences, to explore the limits of consciousness.

So what can folks do to bring Tax Freedom Day to an earlier point in the calendar?  One goal is to protect the internet as a communication vehicle, since Statists find it hard to suppress liberating info on the Net - Comcast has pledged to keep the Net open, perhaps cynically to stave off Net Neutrality.  Another goal is to create a better "mainstream" media, which you can help do by joining BreakTheMatrix, the alternative news media organ run by fundraiser Trevor Lyman to give people better information, including that which will make us less susceptible to the sophistry of the annoited Elite.

Breaking the Matrix is a radical idea, and Nock said radicalism is the true creed of the libertarian.  He said this in the 1920s while differentiating the term with "liberal".  Another radical, from the 1930s, was William Chamberlin, who wrote this classic about the similarity among the "isms".  So let's rise above the isms and take back not just our country, but also our world, so we can all live and let live.