[This post is intended for the widest possible dissemination. Please forward to local and national politicians, newspapers, other websites, friends and family. Unedited copies are authorized as well as excerpts for the purposes of a news story. If you wish to comment, please do. If you wish to discuss, please e-mail me at bassman349@juno.com. Thank you. Also, I do not want it thought that this endeavor is to define the rest of my life's work. No, once this is in the bag, I will be working on overhauling our family law system, and I'm also going to see to it that Congress restores the good names of Admiral Kimmel and General Short by naming a couple of the Navy's big, shiny new ships after them. There is much more to be done than what immediately follows. Thank you for reading.]
January 11, 2009
To All Americans:
I am Kurt Henning, United States citizen, currently residing in the great State of Illinois.
I am writing this primarily as a private citizen, but also as a serviceman, but only as it relates to an oath I took when I entered the service. (Be it known that neither the Navy in general nor my chain of command have endorsed this message nor anything contained herein. For everything contained in this letter, I take full responsibility.)
I joined the Navy on November 20, 2003. On that day I took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Ostensibly, the role I was to play in support of the Constitution was in the repairing of our Navy’s aircraft. But deep down, I knew there was some deeper reason that I had found myself in the service of our nation. I didn’t know what that deeper reason was – maybe one day I would help pull a shipmate out a of a burning fighter jet and save his life, or maybe I would give first aid to a wounded comrade on the field of battle. I didn’t know, but I was open to anything – anything that I considered honorable, significant, and worthy of our American heritage.
Before I took the oath in 2003, I had become something of a student of the very Constitution I vowed to protect. My studies did not cease on the day I was sworn into service; if anything, my studies have increased.
“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
That’s a tall order, and frankly, based on their excellent knowledge of history, the framers of the Constitution didn’t expect the United States to last much more than 150 years before they figured the whole thing would collapse under diverse pressures, both foreign and domestic. I took an oath to ensure that, as far as it is up to me, it will last. Many men and women have served over the years, in both civilian and military capacities, to ensure the same thing. Many have given their lives.
The framers of our Constitution were very aware that the greatest dangers to our personal liberties come not from outside of our country, but from within – in fact, they recognized that the very government they were establishing posed the greatest of all potential threats to personal liberty.
Should we be surprised then to learn that such threats actually exist and are currently at work over two hundred years after the establishment of our government? Should we be shocked and retreat into a state of denial?
In fact, we can be surprised and we can be shocked, but we who have taken the oath to support and defend our Constitution cannot retreat – we cannot recognize a threat to our Constitution, from whatever source derived, and then deny its existence and allow that threat to proceed unchallenged. This is surrender without a fight, which is against our nation’s military Code of Conduct.
It is understood that mankind has come into this world with certain “unalienable rights,” rights he has either enjoyed freely (if he’s been lucky) or has had taken away by force (which has often been the case throughout his colorful history).
Before governments were instituted among men, it was understood that men and women would have to spend their days working to provide for life’s basic necessities and common comforts – foraging, growing crops, hunting, fishing; making clothes, furniture, tools, shelter. This principal was put very succinctly in the Christian Bible where it says: “If a man will not work, he will not eat.” This principal existed long before established government – it was not introduced or created by governments. The right to provide for one’s needs through labor is, therefore, not a privilege bestowed upon people by their government, but a natural, or fundamental right. It always has been, and always will be. Tear down any existing government, and the people who were under that former government will still find it necessary to labor for their basic needs, no matter how that former government suppressed, supplanted, or honored the peoples’ natural right to work in order to provide for themselves.
Governments come and governments go, but man’s basic need, and therefore natural right, to provide for himself remains.
What a man gets for his labor, or work, is called the “fruit” of his labor. We refer to it (the fruit) more commonly as “compensation.” This usually comes in the form of money, but can also be an exchange of goods or services. Whatever the form of compensation, the compensation becomes the laborer’s private property, to be disposed of according to the wishes of that laborer – the “fruit” (most likely some form of money) can be exchanged for food, a shirt, a chair, and these in turn are understood to be the private property of the individual who purchased them.
Theoretically, an established government could lay a tax on the fruits of a man’s labor; it could demand a percentage of the compensation a man receives for his work. Theoretically, such a government could confiscate a man’s private property or even his rights to property for failure to pay such a tax. Such a government could even imprison the man who failed to pay such a tax or failed to even fill out the paperwork which would show the government the total amount of that man’s compensation for a year’s work (something a government has no need of knowing, unless it’s purpose is to calculate a percentage of the man’s total compensation and collect that percentage as a tax).
Governments cannot, that is, should not lay a tax on the exercise of a natural right, as a natural right does not originate from government. Governments do not grant natural rights as natural rights are antecedent to government. Our government was established to protect our natural rights; it can grant privileges, and can lay a tax on those privileges appropriately. Who will ever argue that the necessity to labor to provide for one’s needs is a privilege? If we should choose not to enjoy this privilege, who would then provide for us? The government? If a man should choose not to pay a tax on his right to work in order to provide for himself, would the government then prefer to imprison him and provide for that man at the government’s expense? What kind of government would prefer that?
Obviously, this “theoretical government” is not theoretical at all. It is the very one under which we live. And what other natural or fundamental rights are taxed when we choose to exercise them? Do we owe taxes to our government when we worship our God according to our faith? Is not our chosen form of worship a privilege we pay for? Do we fill out paperwork which tells the government with whom we peaceably assemble, and then send in the taxes due? Do we express our opinions on diverse subjects on government forms and then pay a tax on the privilege of free speech? Do we fill out paperwork and send in the tax due every time we plead the Fifth? How much does it cost nowadays to plead the Fifth? If I go to jail and am not punished in cruel or unusual ways, do I send a check to the United States Treasury? For what amount? When my person, home, papers, and effects are not unreasonably searched and seized, how much tax am I liable for every time that doesn’t happen?
The Bill of Rights, Article IX: The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Where exactly in the Constitution has our natural right to work to provide for ourselves been reduced to a privilege, bestowed upon us by our benevolent Uncle Sam for a fee?
The income tax has been debated hotly since before I ever arrived on the scene. The Supreme Court has chimed in; lawyers, doctors, professors, pundits, politicians, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers have had their say. Some blame the bankers, others the Congress. Irwin Schiff, Tommy Cryer, Larry Becraft, Christopher Hansen, Aaron Russo, the We the People Foundation, the FairTax people, the IRS, the lower courts, the Federal Reserve, the 16th Amendment – many voices, much clamoring, much debate. But nothing has changed in almost one hundred years where the income tax is concerned, except that it continues to oppress more and more.
We have a basic need and a natural right to work in order to provide for ourselves and our loved ones. This natural right to work is being taxed by the government. If we do not pay the taxes due upon exercising this right, our private property can be seized and sold at the government’s discretion; if we fail to file yearly returns or if we even make a mistake on those returns concerning our right to work, we can be fined and imprisoned. We are required by the government to provide information regarding our yearly income (the fruits of our labor) that the government can potentially use against us in criminal court, yet the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution says we cannot be compelled to incriminate ourselves. What kind of government does that sounds like?
To me, it doesn’t sound like a government our Founders strove to establish; it doesn’t sound like a government so many thousands of our ancestors and loved ones gave their lives for; it doesn’t sound like a government I would want to support or defend.
Thankfully, my oath was to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” not the government that currently operates under it. The difference is crucial, and must be appreciated.
I, Kurt Henning, understand every person’s basic need and natural right to work so they can provide for themselves – it is one of the essential ingredients in our pursuit of life, liberty, property, and happiness. Therefore, I look at all that has been said and written and argued on the subject of the individual income tax over the course of almost a full century, by both high and low, and I am able to say: I don’t care.
I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care.
I don’t care who said what and when. I don’t care if the Supreme Court ruled in favor or not in favor. I don’t care what the 16th Amendment says or doesn’t say; if it was properly ratified or not (and frankly, considering all the controversy it seems to perpetuate, I would have to say that those who drafted and ratified the thing did a piss-poor job – a high school civics class could have done better). I don’t care what Schiff, Cryer, Becraft, Hansen, Russo, or the candlestick makers have said. I don’t care what the lower courts have ruled. I don’t care if the IRS is good, bad, ugly, or evil, and I don’t care what the Internal Revenue Code says. I don’t care if the judges who have ruled on individual income tax cases are angels or demons. I don’t care if there have been, are, or ever will be conspiracies between the bankers, Congress, the Federal Reserve, the IRS, the Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, the judges and the lawyers. I don’t care who has gone to court and if they won or lost. I don’t care what the government is or isn’t doing with income tax revenue. And I don’t give a damn how ANYONE defines or fails to define “income.”
If, by legal or illegal means, the governments of the United States and the individual States themselves are laying a tax on any one of our fundamental rights and have thereby reduced that right to a privilege, and it has been allowed to go on for even a month, we’re all wrong – Supreme Court, 16th Amendment, Congress, the Presidents, We the People, and all definitions of “income” included.
“But, Kurt, this is just the way our system works! To change it would cause a tremendous upheaval!” Who wants to die for a broken, oppressive system? Isn’t that the pitiful plight of communist and fascist armies? “Don’t rock the boat” should prevail over my fundamental rights? If my rights have been usurped and trampled on, the boat has already been rocked.
“But your right to work and provide for yourself is not a natural right after all because this or that mishmash, or because someone who lived a few hundred years ago said it wasn’t, and we still read his books,” says the person with the law degree or who sits on a bench and wears a black robe. Bullshit.
“It’s not patriotic to criticize your government, especially if you’re in the military.” General George Washington would have your head on a platter for saying such a thing. He’d probably cut it off himself.
“We’ll never change this. The government will never give up such a vast source of revenue.” That, at least, is true – if you have given up the notion that we live in a republic. If that’s the case, the Pledge of Allegiance will have to be altered.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the ____________ for which it stands.” Does our flag not still stand for a republic? Did that change and no one told me? So then, what have you pledged your allegiance to? If it’s not a republic, then what is it? And it’s not a republic if the people don’t retain and exercise their power over their government.
“But how will the government pay for all the stuff it’s supposed to do?” That has already been provided for in the Constitution, and nowhere in the Constitution has a provision been made for Uncle Sam to directly tax my fundamental right to work and provide for myself, reducing that right to a privilege for which I must pay. And if that’s what the 16th Amendment actually accomplished, then it is inherently unconstitutional and has no force of law. It must be repealed.
The arguments will go on and on until we remember, and take seriously, the fact that WE are the government. OUR government derives its power from the governed – WE are the governed, therefore WE have the power to tell government what it will and will not do. That’s our job.
The debates, interpretations, court battles, rulings and challenges can continue forever, but I finally realized that nothing will change the current state of things where income taxes are concerned until I reach the point where I can say:
“I, Kurt Henning of the United States, hold this truth to be self-evident: that all citizens of the United States who have reached the age of majority and who are physically able have the natural right, the responsibility, and the duty to provide materially for their own well-being and for their family, that this right must be exercised freely in forms of work or labor of their own choosing, and that with the fruits of their labor (compensation, usually in the form of money, which automatically becomes their private property) they can acquire other forms of private property such as food, clothing, and shelter in order to sustain themselves and their family, and that after the necessities of life have been provided for, they are at liberty to use whatever remains of the fruits of their labor for whatever they deem appropriate. The federal, state, and local governments cannot claim ownership of any portion of the fruits of their labor unless it is freely and voluntarily given to any or all of those governments. No government – federal, state, or local – can punish any citizen in any way, shape, or form who chooses not to donate any portion of the fruits of their labor to any or all of those governments.”
I now know why I joined the Navy – so I would take that oath and contemplate it as I continued my private study of the Constitution. The Constitution was debated, drafted, and revised numerous times in the summer of 1787, and finally ratified in 1789. It was ordained and established by the People of the United States to secure the blessings of our liberty. Since then, it has faced numerous enemies, both foreign and domestic. Thousands upon thousands have sacrificed their lives for its preservation. I have looked around and have come face to face with a direct attack on several of our liberties in the form of the income tax. Any governmental attack on personal liberty, mine or yours, is an attack on the Constitution, which was carefully crafted to protect our liberty. We protect the Constitution so it can protect us. If we leave the Constitution vulnerable to government encroachment, it is at our own peril.
Though I grew up with this form of government oppression and did not recognize it for most of my working life, I have come to recognize it finally and am simply repulsed at its very existence. And, as a citizen whose duty it is to help govern this republic (not because I’m in the military, but because I am a citizen), I am compelled not to roll over and just let it continue. I am compelled to stand and say, “Stop! We took a wrong turn, and regardless how long we’ve been on this course, no matter how we got here, we will change to a better, to a just course. Now.”
I have reached the point where I can and must say this, and things will change. Our right to work and enjoy all of the fruits of our labor must be fully restored and protected. It must be wrenched from Uncle Sam’s hands. Our government has made a killing by charging us for something we have a natural right to do – earn a living and provide for ourselves. The Constitution already enumerates how Uncle Sam will be provided for; he has nothing to worry about. We must stop believing that working in this country is a privilege from the government for which we pay a fee or go to prison. The joke is on us.
If I am alone in saying this, change will be slow. But if I am among a throng who say this, if my flag truly stands for a republic, change will be swift and sure. I am not waiting anymore. I took an oath, and I mean to act on it. Come with me.
