You got that right.
--- On Mon, 4/19/10, Jon Roland <jon.rol...@constitution.org> wrote:
From: Jon Roland <jon.rol...@constitution.org>
Subject: [Libertarian] No Government by Indirection
To: liberty-l...@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, April 19, 2010, 8:52 AM
No Government by Indirection
Government by indirection is the use of government actions which,
without actually mandating or prohibiting anything in a way that could
be challenged as unconstitutional, indirectly induce people in and out
of government to behave in ways that if done directly, could be legally
challenged.
Some examples of government by indirection include
*
"Income tax" on compensation for labor
o
There is actually no statute, constitutional or otherwise,
that requires anyone to file or pay.
o
If there were it could be attacked by litigation, so they
just omit it.
o
It creates an army of administrators (IRS agents) and
encourages them to use their own discretion to make rules
and apply them to people, and
o
It encourages judges to "defer to the agents, and lie to
jurors in their instructions.
o
The effect is to reverse the burden of proof.
*
Use of social security numbers for identification
o
There is no statute requiring anyone to have one, which
could be challenged.
o
The SSA itself says it is not to be used for identification.
o
Yet everyone is encouraged to use it for identification, as
the Patriot Act does for banks, and too many do.
o
It is a federal felony to "misstate" a SSN for any purpose:
42 U.S.C. 408. And if a SSN is found incorrect, no matter
who made the error, it is presumed to have been "misstated"
by the SSN holder.
o
If challenged, it is found no right has been denied.
It is not enough to demand reforms
Demanding action by officials without providing the exact language is
asking them to do something to you, not for you. You can't leave the
details to them and expect to get a good result.
You also can't solve complex problems with simple solutions. There are
no simple solutions, and the solutions will take a lot of time, effort,
and study to understand. There are no shortcuts.
For more on these and other issues see
http://constitution .org
http://constitution alism.blogspot. com
http://www.meetup. com/constitution /
http://jonroland. org
--
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Constitution Society http://constitution .org
2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322 Austin, TX 78757
512/299-5001 jon.rol...@constitu tion.org
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