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If Not Obama, then Impeach the 16th Amendment (The author makes an excellent point)
Townhall.com ^ | June 9, 2013 | Mark Baisley

Posted on 06/09/2013 8:05:47 AM PDT by Kaslin

I’d say it’s official; President Obama’s Watergate has arrived.  And the witty question originally formed for Nixon’s big scandal can now be re-applied to President Plausible Deniability, “What did he not know and when did he not know it?”  While I do think that IRS-Gate spells the end of this President’s ability to effectively advance the liberal agenda, I do not see an impeachment on the horizon; at least not for Barack Obama – but perhaps for the Sixteenth Amendment.

The recent parade of citizen witnesses to congressional hearings has laid bare the raw suffering that inevitably comes from tolerating the existence of a despotic government agency.  To gain an appreciation for the IRS scandal, one need only hear the eight minute statement from citizen Becky Gerritson before the House Ways and Means Committee.  Gerritson’s elocution should be required viewing for every citizen and immigrant over the age of 16, perhaps set to an inspirational John Williams soundtrack.  Juxtaposed to Ms. Gerritson are the strained testimonies from IRS employees where I keep expecting to hear that fast paced Benny Hill music welling up in the background.

The righteous momentum against IRS arrogance creates an opportunity for righting a 100–year-old wrong.  This past February 3rd marked exactly one century since the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving Congress the “power to lay and collect taxes on incomes.”  This disastrous decision ultimately reversed the positions of servant and master between America’s citizens and their federal government.

The accounting nightmare created by today’s 50,000 pages of tax law and regulations has produced a natural hostility between citizens and government, acted out on annual and quarterly cycles.  Misinterpretations and non-compliance result in fines, property seizure, and criminal prosecution.  The enforcement power given to the agency strikes fear in taxpayers, businesses, charities, and churches, and the temptation has proven to be too much.  Politicians and bureaucrats have leveraged this position to influence desired behaviors.

The institutional corruption of government cruelty toward political advantage has placed Washington, DC on a crash course with Mount Rushmore.  But while Democrats and Republicans fight over the control stick, National Review correspondent Kevin Williamson has been unbuckling his seatbelt and strapping on a wingsuit.  Williamson’s new book arrives with the most appealing (albeit lengthy) title of any political commentary that I have ever seen: “The End Is Near and It's Going to Be Awesome: How Going Broke Will Leave America Richer, Happier, and More Secure.”

Williamson is right, of course, that the current arrangement is completely unsustainable.  And rather than scream all the way into the mountainside, I agree with Williamson that we should prepare to step in with solutions that reflect the Founding Fathers’ pre-Sixteenth-Amendment wisdom.  And in an attempt to out-play us, watch for liberals to begin supporting a flat tax solution.

The IRS is appropriately being criticized by both major parties.  Releasing the Commissioner into an early retirement does not equal the crime.  A systemic change must come to the collection of taxes for the federal government.  But the Democrats will soon realize that too much of a change will ruin their ability to control the masses on an individual basis.  And by modifying the current complexity to a flat tax, Democrats would trade short term manipulations for maintaining their long term position of control over the individual.

A flat tax would merely simplify the fiasco.  It would not resolve anything.  Taxing income is the problem.  Republicans should move to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

There are two worthy alternatives on the table right now; the Liberty Amendment and the Fair Tax.  In 1998 Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) first introduced the Liberty Amendment, a straightforward proposal that repeals the ability to tax income and restricts the federal government to programs specifically enumerated in the Constitution. In 1999 Congressman John Linder (R-GA) first introduced legislation known as the Fair Tax Act.  The Fair Tax has received more congressional member support than both the Liberty Amendment and flat tax schemes.

The Liberty Amendment does not attempt to provide solutions to the lost revenues for the federal government.  For me, the wisdom in this approach is a forced reduction in the size of the federal government along with re-thinking revenue sources.

The Fair Tax begins with a national sales tax as a replacement for income tax.  The IRS is eliminated and the economy would receive a certain boost.  It also attempts to replace welfare, unemployment, and other government social involvements with a unified monthly cash payment to every legal resident.  The idea here is to collect enough sales tax to fund the government and to send a minimal subsistence payment to everyone, no matter how rich or poor they happen to be.

Ron Paul said of the Fair Tax, “We don’t need to replace the income tax at all. I see a consumption tax as being a little better than the personal income tax, and I would vote for the Fair Tax if it came up in the House of Representatives, but it is not my goal. We can do better.”  There is a lot to like about the Fair Tax and a lot to be concerned about, especially the opportunity for liberal mischief in developing dependencies with the cash payments.

But regardless of the final revenue solution, we need to head Rahm Emanuel’s advice that, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”  It has now been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the existence of an agency such as the IRS is too great of a temptation for ambitious politicians.  The Sixteenth Amendment must be repealed.  Further, the very purpose of taxation should be refined to funding government operations.  It should never be allowed for social engineering, redistributions, punishment, or spying.

Or as Becky Gerritson bravely told the government in person, “It’s not your right to assert an agenda.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: 16thamendment; agenda21; benghazi; constitution; democrats; elijahcummings; fastandfurious; federalgovernment; freespeech; governmentspending; impeachnow; irs; irstargeting; maryland; misdirectionplay; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; tinfoilhatbrigade
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1 posted on 06/09/2013 8:05:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
I’d say it’s official; President Obama’s Watergate has arrived.

I'd say it's official; President Obama's flurry of Watergates have arrived.

2 posted on 06/09/2013 8:09:15 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Obama lied, four men died, and he went to hide...)
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To: DoughtyOne
While I do think that IRS-Gate spells the end of this President’s ability to effectively advance the liberal agenda

Mark Baisley is smoking some serious blow, if he thinks the Leftist Agenda will stop because of this.

3 posted on 06/09/2013 8:20:30 AM PDT by Old Sarge (My "KMA List" is growing daily...)
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To: Kaslin

bttt


4 posted on 06/09/2013 8:20:56 AM PDT by TEXOKIE (We must surrender only to our Holy God and never to the evil that has befallen us.)
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To: Kaslin

I would not be too quick to rule out impeachment. If the GOP can take back the senate next year there is nothing to stop it.


5 posted on 06/09/2013 8:23:55 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Old Sarge

Agreed. Look no farther than Pelosi and Reid to verify that.

As bad as they are, it’s the spider-web of Leftist groups out there that causes me grave concern. They’re doing most of what they do on our dime, and they are intertwined everywhere it seems.


6 posted on 06/09/2013 8:25:19 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Obama lied, four men died, and he went to hide...)
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To: Old Sarge
Mark Baisley is smoking some serious blow, if he thinks the Leftist Agenda will stop because of this.

Precisely.

Obama has the info he needs to destroy anyone who gets in his way. And he has a long history of being happy to do so.

Just ask Jeri Ryan's husband...


7 posted on 06/09/2013 8:27:05 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Get armed, get fit...get ready,)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

There’s the media to stop it. I don’t see ABCBSNBCNNPRPBS doing anything but playing defense for this crook.

I am old enough to remember the summer of ‘74...the media breathlessly followed and explained every break the Ervin Committee made. When Alexander Butterfield explained that Nixon had been taping himself...this news rocked the country because the media made sure it was broadcast 24/7.

This media will do nothing but protect Obama.


8 posted on 06/09/2013 8:39:17 AM PDT by kjo (+)
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To: Kaslin

I’m amazed that people think that the House can’t investigate Obama, but they think we can repeal income tax? Libertarians -Democrats who don’t want to pay their own taxes.


9 posted on 06/09/2013 8:39:44 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Kaslin

As a conservative who has been banging his head against a wall for years wondering how socialists continue to survive and thrive in our Federal Government, I have realized the ONLY way to stop the leftist/progressive agenda is the end the Federal Reserve.

Money is the basis of society, more so even than food. No progressive or socialist government can survive where it has to tax and spend “real” money, where it must compete with the free market for money it borrows, and where it must pay real interest rates.

Moreover, the corruption of money by the State, over time and by slow operation, leads to 1000 other social ills conservatives rail against.


10 posted on 06/09/2013 8:43:42 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: kjo

Well the media was on Billy Jeff’s side also but he still got impeached. If we had controlled the Senate he would have been removed.


11 posted on 06/09/2013 8:45:35 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Kaslin

6. Were the so-called 14th and 16th amendments properly ratified?

Answer: No. Neither was properly ratified. In the case of People v. Boxer (December 1992), docket number #S-030016, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer fell totally silent in the face of an Application to the California Supreme Court by the People of California, for an ORDER compelling Senator Boxer to witness the material evidence against the so-called 16th amendment.

That socalled “amendment” allegedly authorized federal income taxation, even though it contains no provision expressly repealing two Constitutional Clauses mandating that direct taxes must be apportioned. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court have both ruled that repeals by implication are not favored. See Crawford Fitting Co. et al. v. J.T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 442 (1987).

The material evidence in question was summarized in AFFIDAVIT’s that were properly executed and filed in that case. Boxer fell totally silent, thus rendering those affidavits the “truth of the case.” The socalled 16th amendment has now been correctly identified as a major fraud upon the American People and the United States. Major fraud against the United States is a serious federal offense. See 18 U.S.C. 1031.

http://www.supremelaw.org/sls/31answers.htm


12 posted on 06/09/2013 8:48:15 AM PDT by phockthis (http://www.supremelaw.org/fedzone11/index.htm ...)
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To: Georgia Girl 2
If the GOP can take back the senate next year there is nothing to stop it.

Sure there is. They're called RINOS.

13 posted on 06/09/2013 8:51:15 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal The 16th Amendment!)
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To: kjo
...the media breathlessly followed and explained every break the Ervin Committee made.

They would preempt shows to broadcast the Watergate hearings. I was just a kid at the time and it made me angry that they pushed off the stuff I wanted to watch. Fast forward to Clinton. He actually gets impeached. The Networks act as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening although it is only the 2nd time in history and the 1st time for the television age. It was during Clinton I made my divorce with Nitwit News and the rest of the Redstream media final.

14 posted on 06/09/2013 9:04:35 AM PDT by Nateman (If liberals are not screaming you are doing it wrong!)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Republicans did control the Senate. There was 55 at the time. 5 of them acquitted Clinton. The final vote was 50/50. The media called it an acquittal but of course it was more like a hung jury. No big surprise turncoat Sphincter was one of them. He later one went to switch parties and provide the critical vote to pass Obamacare. I actually celebrated the day that SOB died.


15 posted on 06/09/2013 9:11:17 AM PDT by Nateman (If liberals are not screaming you are doing it wrong!)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

“I would not be too quick to rule out impeachment. If the GOP can take back the senate next year there is nothing to stop it.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I would not be too quick to rule out turning an acre or two of my property into a fish pond, if I start right away with my shovel and a wheelbarrow there is nothing to stop it...if I live long enough.

Impeachment has zero chance unless the GOP does take back the senate and the new senate would not be seated for another year and seven months. By the time something happened it would not matter. Using the twenty fifth amendment could be done quickly but there is zero possibility of that happening.


16 posted on 06/09/2013 11:42:04 AM PDT by RipSawyer (I was born on Earth, what planet is this?)
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To: PGR88
that is a very good point

I am afraid Idocracy is our future

17 posted on 06/09/2013 11:51:40 AM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: RipSawyer

“I would not be too quick to rule out impeachment. If the GOP can take back the senate next year there is nothing to stop it.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I would not be too quick to rule out turning an acre or two of my property into a fish pond, if I start right away with my shovel and a wheelbarrow there is nothing to stop it...if I live long enough.

Impeachment has zero chance unless the GOP does take back the senate and the new senate would not be seated for another year and seven months. By the time something happened it would not matter. Using the twenty fifth amendment could be done quickly but there is zero possibility of that happening.


There’s plenty to stop it - even it the Senate were 75-25 R...

Pray hard and expectantly.
0bama and the 25 or so “presidents” have no one to hold them accountable, and, if 0bama were to let H0lder go you know he’d threaten to talk, so that’s why no one will be let go. Also, if 0bama and his inner circle Marzists can blackmale R0berts (and you know they did), then any of our side are good and scared since their phone conversations and emails are in their hands.

Misspellings are purposeful. I hope you understand that. Atlas Shrugged Part 2 really seems like today.

Pray, pray, pray, plead, pray, plead. I really don’t see anyone intervening but the Almighty and I can’t predict what that would look like if He did.


18 posted on 06/09/2013 2:30:22 PM PDT by CincyRichieRich (He thwarts the plans of the crafty so that their hands achieve no success...Job 5:12)
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To: RipSawyer

Granted its a stretch. We are making for plans to survive 3.5 more year of Barry which will surely include financial meltdown and prolly CWII.


19 posted on 06/09/2013 4:39:12 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Kaslin
And in an attempt to out-play us, watch for liberals to begin supporting a flat tax solution.

Even a flat tax solution is a useless fix, if any of the government's branches grants bureaucrats the power to start carving out exemptions, or inventing exemptions themselves.

Also, either eliminate direct subsidies of any kind for everyone, or make sure all income direct or in-kind is also taxed.

20 posted on 06/09/2013 7:40:49 PM PDT by publius911 (Look for the Union label, then buy something else.)
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