Would You Go To Prison --- With Your Bishop? (Mrs. Don-o's Challenge on the HHS Mandate and More)

April 2, 2012 | Mrs. Don-o

[Mrs. Don-o]

I was wondering about that.

I undersrand that the IRS is going to be the enforcement/collection agency. If about 10 million ordinary people, well-prepared and well-versed in such things, got out of withholding somehow, and then invested a lot of energy in questionable, corner-cutting hiding, loop-holing, obscuring and off-shoring (like I guess rich people do)(or so I'm told), wouldn't that make enforcement and collections get all twisty-tailed around and effectively impede the IRS' abilty to carry out their mission? I'm told that just filing for extensions would shut down the IRS System, if a million people did it.

But I don't know about such things. Wouldn't it be worthwhile to turn the 10,000 page tax code to our own advantage via its labyrinthine built-in complexities?

Serious question from a seriously unknowledgeable person.

Enlighten me!

[OneWingedShark]

Very nice!

I particularly like this line:
“We cannot win this battle if we merely find some plausible way to finesse an inherently unjust situation.”

This finessing is exactly what the church in the US has gotten into the habit of doing; instead of standing against injustice we are generally told “obey authority” regardless of the justness (or legitimacy) of that authority’s commands.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks --- I'm wondering about the HOW as well as the WHEN and WHY.

See #38 and #41.

How COULD we resist, effectively, if it came to that? Meaning, how could we impede them from just instantly confiscating the funds out of our bank accounts, plus whatever penalties the Dark Lords demand?

[oneolcop]

As a practical matter, jam the jails full. Contest each charge to the max, Refuse bail. Force the issue so they are compelled to back down. If they put enough people into the penal system, they'll quickly run out of room. If they build prison camps, plenty of people will break the fences down and come and get them out.

This may be the beginning of the end, so go down fighting and assure your place in heaven.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Aha! NOW you’ve got my cheeks pinking, my eyes sparkling, and my heart going boom-boom-BOOM!

[Mad Dawg]

I was thinking of what I read somewhere where the California tax people just went into somebody’s savings account and took money. THEN they notified him. If CA can do that, so can the Feds.

[OneWingedShark]

>How COULD we resist, effectively, if it came to that? Meaning, how could we impede them from just instantly confiscating the funds out of our bank accounts, plus whatever penalties the Dark Lords demand?

There are several ways, the first that pops into mind is violence. An option, but perhaps perhaps harmful because it would be seen as counter to Jesus’s example given when He was being arrested. (Though, for a counter-example see the book of Esther; these people, make no mistake, mean to see our people beat down/eradicated.)

Secondly, there is the possibility of simply spending all the “church funds” before the government can get involved, giving it to the poor directly or funding missions (home or abroad, it matters not) and allowing the government to try to “squeeze blood from a stone.” After depleting savings, the church should instruct its parishioners to give their tithe directly [to mission/use X]. — This has the advantage of getting people more directly involved in ministries, and it provides the opportunity for the Church (organization) to rely on God for sustenance.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Yes. I'm thinking there must be some people in the Church who are smart enough to set up some kind of fund-holding structure, or thousands of different, complicated structures, --- let reativity reign! ---here or abroad. Call it "money laundering," OK, but make the damn Feds work at it. I think it wopuld take just about 5% - 10$ resistance to royally screw up the works.

Make them try to seize and sell properties. Go ahead and try. Occupy can do sit-downs at foreclosed properties, so can I. And ten-thousand I's.

[RobbyS]

It is time for the USCCB to make an open break with the Democrat party, to denounce Biden, Pelosi, et al. by name, or rather to mention with sorrow how it came to pass that these worthies came to misrepresent the teachings of the Catholic Church, and take some baby steps away from the embrace of the Government.

[Mrs. Don-o]

From your keyboard to God’s ear.

[SuziQ]

Excellent!! My hubby, SirKit, has said for a while that we'd need to see a couple of Bishops in jail to get the typical Pew Sitter's attention.

And you are SO right about the missed Teachable Moments. There is so much material for good homilies, but I think too many priests are afraid of offending contracepting couples, or making college aged kids mad. Too bad; it's the perfect opportunity to show the problems in society caused by sexual sins.

[sayuncledave]

Dear friend,
there is only one response to the government in this: no. It doesn’t need to be shouted, so much as said resolutely, and never backed away from. Should the current regulations from the HHS not vary between now and 2014, when they are supposed to take effect, I’ll have to cease insurance and taxes. You do know, that those who do not offer insurance (and I’m sure this goes for joe blow on the street also) will have a 1 dollar portion of their taxes monthly that is specifically segregated for payment of abortions, do you not? Insofar as the government is concerned, I’ve always been a law-abiding citizen, and outside of the musical career of my relative youth, rather staid. But we cannot, and must not comply here. Period. I may not be the bravest, (save that for my dad, vet and fighter pilot) but better to be true to my faith than true to obamacare. Or, as a long deceased friend of mine would have said, of sebellius and obama: weasels.