patrick.net

If our aim was to truly be a democratic constitutional republic, then our laws would purposefully be simple enough for the average person to understand. They are deliberately complicated to make the serfs feel powerless and to allow for illegal acts. Police arrest people all the time for things they have no legal right to arrest them for.

The police could arrest you for singing if they want. Who's going to stop the arrest if the officer, the politicians and the person being arrested has no idea of the law? Income tax is technically not lawful, but what will happen if you don't pay? You will go to jail. Has the arresting officer read the law regarding income tax? Has anyone? No. So, if no one knows the law then choas and ignorance reign supreme and The society is ripe for sociopaths in power to do as they please.

This is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever seen. It's probably written by a libertarian conspiracy theorist who either unknowingly believes it all or knowingly is spreading misinformation. I hope you were being sarcastic, hrhjuliet, or you just didn't read it first.

The cites are all bullshit. For example, if you read the actual case law in the cite for #9, you will see that the conclusion is wrong:

There have NOT been any judges in America since 1789. There have just been administrators. (FRC v. GE 281 US 464 Keller v. PE 261 US 428 1 Stat. 138-178)

This is a gross misreading of FRC v. GE. FRC v. GE said that the decision being appealed to the Supreme Court was administrative in nature and therefore could not be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Why would that imply that judges are administrators? It doesn't.

hrhjuliet says

Income tax is technically not lawful

So maybe you are one of the crackpots...

The list is based in real cases, but it does not include the circumstances that surround them. I don't believe in the conspiracy part, but those cases and laws existed.

Our current income tax has an interesting history. It is allowed under the 16th amendment, but the legitimacy of the amendment’s ratification has been debated since government began operating under it in 1913. There is also the issue of the 5th amendment making aspects of the 1913 amendment void, and the free exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed right to lawfully acquire property (earnings and other compensation) by lawfully contracting one's own labour to engage in lawful, innocent and harmless activities for lawful compensation cannot be (and therefore has not been) taxed for revenue purposes, and therefore, an individual who is only engaged in lawful, innocent any harmless activities is not subject to any "Income Tax" or any other Revenue Tax, and therefore is not a taxpayer as defined by law, and can therefore be properly and accurately described as a non taxpayer.

I never said I was against income tax, or that I agreed with the crazy conspiracy aspects of the list. My point is that the laws are so muddled and convoluted that even the lawyers and judges are not always sure, so how do you expect an officer or citizen to understand the laws?

I'm not a crackpot, I just am pointing out the potential for corruption if the laws stay so complicated, contradictory and convoluted. One of the goals of a healthy democratic government should be to make the laws simple to understand so that the citizens understand them.

I also feel that it is very important for a democratic populace to be educated about their government. How can democracy work for the benefit of society if the populace is uneducated about the law of the land?

I find your name calling offensive, especially because I respect your writing and would not engage in the same use of colorful metaphors if I disagreed with you.

hrhjuliet says

but the legitimacy of the amendment’s ratification has been debated since government began operating under it in 1913

Only by stupid people who don't understand constitutional law. The BS arguments you're talking about have all failed and have no basis in the law or in our constitution.

I generally respect your writing too, but this stuff about the income tax is nonsense.

As for the original link in question, it's a bunch of nonsense too. If people choose not to inform themselves, then I don't know what to tell you, but that link isn't informing us of anything intelligent.

hrhjuliet says

hey are deliberately complicated

I thought that they were deliberately complicated as a form of welfare for lawyers.