December 17, 2008
by Larken Rose

 | Comment on the Blog

There are lots of things you can DO in this country that are against the law.  There are even a few things you can SAY that are illegal (e.g., threats, statements that constitute fraud, slander).  But I can only think of one thing that it's actually illegal to THINK in this country - one thing that it's actually against the law to BELIEVE, no matter what you do with that belief.  And I happen to believe it.

Various crimes include a "mens rea" component, meaning one's state of mind is relevant to whether a crime occurred, but I'm not even talking about that.  I'm talking about a belief that, all by itself, is impossible to have without breaking the law - or at least without breaking what the tyrants say is the law.  Sound absurd?  Read on.

How would it even be possible to make any thought a crime?  If the person didn't DO anything based on his belief, or didn't even SAY anything about it, how could it possibly be illegal to think something?  Well, it couldn't, which is why it takes a rather clever trick to outlaw the thought of which I speak.  Suppose that the government really didn't want anyone to have a certain belief, let's call it "Belief X."  Writing a law that says, "It shall be unlawful to Believe X" would look silly and would be impossible to enforce.  But what if instead, the government passed a law that said:

1) You are required to sign something, under penalty of perjury, stating whether you believe "X" or not.
2) It is illegal to say that you believe "X."
3) It is illegal to DENY that you believe "X," if you really do believe it.

Passing such a law would make it quite literally illegal to BELIEVE "X," no matter what you did or said about it, since there is no way for you to believe it WITHOUT breaking the law.  Whether you admit or deny your belief, either way you are a criminal (though if you deny the belief, they may never know it).  The only way to NOT break the law is to not believe "X."

Again, if you think this discussion is absurd, keep reading.  Because as it happens, the federal government DID impose such a law, making it ILLEGAL for me (and many thousands of others) to believe what we believe.  It is, quite literally, impossible for us to hold this belief without breaking the law, at least the law as the federal control freaks depict it.  In other words, the BELIEF ITSELF is illegal, no matter what we say or do about it.  What's worse, the belief happens to be CORRECT.  As a result, I know something true that it is a CRIME to know.  Think I'm exaggerating?

To over-simplify things a bit, I believe there are specific sections of the federal tax statutes and regulations that describe when domestic income is actually subject to the federal income tax (mainly 26 CFR 1.861-1 and following).  I further believe that those sections do NOT show the income of most Americans, including myself, to be subject to the tax.  I therefore conclude that I don't owe federal income taxes.

For the full explanation of what I believe, why I believe it, and why lots and lots of other people believe it, you can order my book, Kicking the Dragon.

But for right now, it doesn't matter whether you agree with my legal conclusions or not, or whether you even know what they are.  The point I want to make here is how profoundly insane it is for there to be a law making it illegal to THINK or BELIEVE something.  Based on what I believe, I am automatically a criminal, no matter what I do.  Think I'm kidding?  Try this:

If I believe I don't owe federal income taxes, what are my options?

1) I could say what I believe, and act accordingly, by not filing income tax returns and not sending the IRS money.  I did that, and was sent to prison for it.  So did lots of others, some of whom were also sent to prison for it.  Others have also been prosecuted for filing claims for refund, asking for money back that they had sent in before.  In other words, they went to prison for saying, "I don't think I owed you that."  (The only reason the feds didn't do that to me is because the statute of limitations ran out on the claims I filed.)

2) On the other hand, I could pretend that I believe I owe the tax, and I could file and pay.  However, that too is ILLEGAL in my case.  Section 6065 of Title 26 makes it a crime to sign a return that you don't believe is accurate.  So if I signed return swearing that my income is taxable, when I believe it isn't (and Judge Michael Baylson coerced me into doing exactly that), I would be breaking the law.  Of course, if you overstate what you owe, they won't prosecute you for it, but it's still technically illegal.

In short, there was NO WAY for me to think what I think without breaking the law, at least as far as the feds are concerned.  And that means that, for all intents and purposes, THE BELIEF ITSELF is illegal.  I know that plenty of you have learned the hard way that, despite the myth of "due process" and all that, in reality, if you say you don't think you owe the tax, you will be insulted and threatened, and possibly fined or prosecuted, until you say you didn't really mean it.  And then, if you say you didn't really mean it, and you sign a return swearing that you owe the tax, you'll be committing perjury.  Ain't it great to live in the land of the free?

If there's one message that I hope makes it through loud and clear, for anyone who reads my book, this is it:  Whatever bunk you hear about rule of law, due process, checks and balances, fairness and justice, the truth of the matter is that the federal government is funded the same way the Mafia is:  by brute force.  Actually, the Mafia is preferable, because at least they don't try to deceive and defraud you before sending in the stupid thugs to collect.

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Larken Rose's interest in politics goes back to his youth. He was always passionately interested in the freedom of his fellow man, moving intellectually from conservatism through libertarianism to anarchism. How to be a Successful Tyrant is his first published work on the dynamics of tyranny, written between his conviction in federal court and his surrender to prison, where he is busy writing his next book.

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