Ed and Elaine Brown
It would be a legitimate question to ask why a UK resident such as myself would engage with the issue of Ed and Elaine Brown.
After all, they don’t live in the UK; they’re not people normally in the public eye; their situation is not relevant to UK affairs.
I cannot comment upon the legal niceties of the Browns’ situation – my knowledge of U.S. law and its Constitution is inadequate.
But (in my understanding) what we have here is an accusation of failure to pay certain taxes, and a request to see the specific legal requirements for paying said taxes. The request is unfulfilled and so the payment is withheld.
It is a matter of public record that the Browns are fully prepared to pay such taxes, today, now, if they can simply be shown the law that requires them to so do.
Forget the legal niceties. So far, to me, it seems fairly clear cut.
So why, I ask myself, hasn’t the appropriate “law” been shown to them? And why, rather than showing them the appropriate law, is it seen fit to despatch multiple armed servants of the federal administration?
Presumably the relevant “law” is encoded in document form – so how many people does it take to deliver a document? Or, even more simply, does the United States of America not have a postal service?
The Browns argue quite persuasively that no such legal requirement exists.
From the albeit cursory researches that I have performed it would appear that the United States federal administration cannot legally (i.e., in conformity with the U.S. Constitution) levy an “unapportioned income tax”.
I’ve watched videos of interviews with the Browns. I cannot say I entirely agree with them on everything, but that’s completely beside the point.
What does impress me is their determination not to compromise on what is really a very fundamental principle – how can any of us observe the Rule of Law if we don’t know what the law is, and if those claiming to invoke such a law cannot “produce the proof” as it were?
A little personal history here: for most of my life (and I am now in my middle years) I have tended to be something of a rebel. Going against the system; challenging authority; questioning “givens”. But, for the most part, this has been done in little ways, in small things. And indeed that was all that was necessary, for I’ve lived in a society where the demands have not been too onerous, where the encroachments upon my personal freedoms and privacy have not been overly aggressive.
So my response has been proportionate.
But times are changing; here in the UK the concept of the “State” has become much more prevalent and its interference (or potential for interference) in my personal life much more noticeable. And so my “activism” has escalated accordingly – adhering to the principle of “proportionate response”.
“Proportionate response” is something I can relate to, and understand. But in the Browns’ case what I see (according to all the reports I’ve read) is an entirely DISPROPORTIONATE response on the part of the federal administration.
That the Browns should be prepared to meet that accordingly elevates them to my mind, and regardless of any other issue, to the status of heroes. Unqualified. Unreservedly. Heroes!
For they’re prepared to confront without compromise the full weight of a far superior force without flinching. I cannot be anything other than inspired by their courage and fortitude.
However, my admiration for the Browns does not blind me to the obscenity of what is occurring.
Here we have a not-so-young couple being laid seige to by a veritable army of mindless thugs (for such they must be, else they would begin to question their own orders and the morality of what they’re about) equipped with all manner of weaponry and technology. OVER A TAX ISSUE!!!
If the situation weren’t so dire I would find it utterly unbelievable. Surely such a thing simply cannot occur in a civilised society.
And here we have the crux of the matter. For it has become clear to me (from its international “adventures” and relations) that the United States of America under the Bush regime has become a rogue entity, intent upon world domination and totally disregarding any form of Rule of Law and indeed any form of morality.
That this rogue entity should now bring its modus operandi to bear upon its own citizens and residents should come as no surprise, and the Browns affair is simply one more in a progression of increasingly fascist manifestations.
Nor can I see an easy or peaceful resolution to the matter. The federal administration cannot back down (indeed, dare not back down) for to do so would be to send a signal to all “genuine” criminals that the “State” can be successfuly challenged providing one has sufficient determination. Such a course would simply open the floodgates to all manner of serious organised crime.
Neither can the federal administration reverse the findings so far and declare the Browns innocent of wrongdoing. For to do so would be to open up an entirely different set of floodgates – an unmistakeable signal to all U.S. residents to challenge and defy this fictitious law that supposedly requires them to surrender a portion of their hard-earned income to the State.
(Imagine the repercussions: not only would vast numbers of people suddenly stop paying this illegal tax – theft in other words – but would also have a very strong case to demand recompense for all past payments levied!)
Nor can the federal administration simply “pardon” the Browns. That would be tantamount to saying “Ok, you’re guilty, but we’re gonna let you off”. If my asessment of the Browns is anything approaching the reality I cannot imagine them accepting such a situation for they would thereby implicity be acknowledging their guilt.
On the Browns’ side, from everything I’ve seen so far I simply cannot see them backing down. The courage it must have taken to reach this point is unimaginable. Just in doing so they’ve proved their mettle.
A rock and a hard place indeed. And in that I’m fearful – for this assessment can only lead to one, bloody, conclusion.
And so the real question is, what of the American people? Are they prepared to stand by and see their rogue government massacre yet more innocent people (for surely the Browns’ guilt has not been proven by virtue of the fact that the relevant law has still not been shown)?
Or are they, finally, going to decide that this is the time to take a stand?
I am desperately concerned about the outcome of this situation. A concern that is deepened by virtue of the fact that NONE of the mainstream media appear in the least interested in covering this situation – a situation that may have started as a relatively insignificant legal wrangle but has now escalated into something highlighting the fundamental flaw at the very heart of not just the American but most Western “governments” – that the people have become subservient to the “State”.
And here is my secondary reason for being engaged with this issue – my very great fear (substantiated by our own minority-mandated government’s cretinous support of the Bush regine over the past few years) that what’s occurring in America now may well be the precursor to what will become standard practise in Britain in just a few years’ time.
So the Browns’ situation should, and has, become an affair that engages the interests of ordinary folk worldwide, for it is yet another manifestation of the ubiquitous battle between the individual and the State.
Individuals are REAL. The State is an artificial construct. Whose side are you on?
-- fotdmike
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