The Liberty Amendment

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo Sent: 4/11/2005 8:33 PM  Note: I have reordered the original postings...dlw

Here is the direct link to The Liberty Amendment: http://libertyamendment.org/
 
One of the items on that site is this:
 
There are currently nine States which have already endorsed the Liberty Amendment. These States and the year in which they endorsed the Amendment are:

• Wyoming ('59) •
 • Nevada ('60) • Texas ('60) • Louisiana ('60) •
 • Georgia ('62) • South Carolina ('62) •
 • Mississippi ('82) • Arizona ('82) • Indiana ('82) •

[DennisLeeWilson]

The Liberty Amendment
Liberty, freedom and sovereignty restored to all Americans
Text of the proposed Liberty Amendment

• Section 1. The Government of the United States shall not engage in any business, professional, commercial, financial or industrial enterprise except as specified in the Constitution.
  
  
• Section 2. The constitution or laws of any State, or the laws of the United States shall not be subject to the terms of any foreign or domestic agreement which would abrogate this amendment.
  
  
• Section 3. The activities of the United States Government which violate the intent and purpose of this amendment shall, within a period of three years from the date of the ratification of this amendment, be liquidated and the properties and facilities affected shall be sold.
  
  
• Section 4. Three years after the ratification of this amendment the sixteenth article of amendments to the Constitution of the United States shall stand repealed and thereafter Congress shall not levy taxes on personal incomes, estates, and/or gifts.

Individual liberty, freedom and sovereignty of the people will be restored in a representative republican form of government by clarifying the original spirit and intent of the Constitution. The Liberty Amendment will give back to the Constitution its full force and effect in limiting the powers and activities of the Federal Government and restoring those powers reserved to the States and to the people. The Liberty Amendment, proposed, could become the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.

 The Liberty Amendment states that the Federal Government shall not operate business-type activities unless they are specifically authorized by the Constitution.

It provides a three-year period for selling or liquidating more than 900 agencies and business-type enterprises presently operated by the Federal Government without constitutional authority. Sale of these enterprises will bring in enough money to substantially reduce the national debt. Annual budget spending by the government could be reduced by more than fifty percent. Revenue from excise taxes on goods and services, and on corporation incomes, will increase at least twenty percent, without increase of tax rates.

This means that the annual revenue collected from the Federal Personal Income and Withholding Tax, the Federal Estate Tax, and the Federal Gift tax, will not be needed. So the Liberty Amendment will stop these three types of taxes, at the end of the three-year period

Current status

• There are currently nine States which have already endorsed the Liberty Amendment. These States and the year in which they endorsed the Amendment are:
  
            Wyoming ('59) • Nevada ('60) • Texas ('60) • Louisiana ('60) • Georgia ('62) • South Carolina ('62) • Mississippi ('82) • Arizona ('82) • Indiana ('82)
  
   
• On February 7, 2007 the Hon. Ron Paul of Texas introduced in The House of Representatives the House Joint Resolution 23:
  
  Proposing an amendment the Constitution of the United States relative to abolishing personal income, estate, and gift taxes and prohibiting the United States Government from engaging in business in competition with its citizens.
  
  HJR 23 has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. See the latest status of HJR 23.
  
  (Ron Paul previously introduced this amendment on January 28, 2003 as House Joint Resolution 15. HJR 15 was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. See its latest status.)

For more background information, please see The Liberty Amendment – its origin and progress.

The purpose of the Liberty Amendment

The purpose of this Amendment is to give full force and effect to the Constitution of the United States; to restore freedom and lost liberties to all Americans; and to restore sovereignty to the United States of America, the States and the body of the People.

The Liberty Amendment will renew personal freedom – the ability of individuals to exercise their God-given rights with a minimum of dependence on, and interference from, the Federal Government. It will restore to ourselves and to future generations the advantages which we inherited from our forefathers – advantages which made us the most fortunate people on earth.

Economic freedom, without which no freedom is possible, will be renewed by terminating federal competition with free enterprise and interference in "our" economy. When this has been accomplished, federal personal income, estate, and gift taxes will be unnecessary. So this Amendment will further renew economic freedom by terminating these taxes.

The Liberty Amendment is designed to regain the Constitutionally guaranteed powers reserved to the States and to the people. We are requesting that all States consider the urgent need to save the sovereignty of the States, the United States in its true Constitutionally framed Republic, and the Individual Liberty of all of our People.

Questions and Answers

Way back in 1975, Rep. Larry McDonald (D-Georgia) entered an excellent series of Questions and Answers about the Liberty Amendment into the Congressional Record. Even today, this is still one of the best explanations of the Liberty Amendment. Read it here.

The Liberty Amendment will win the battle on 45 issues all at once

The Liberty Amendment has been designed to fight all the multitude of apparently different battles at once – and win by restoring the Constitution to full force and effect. Once the Amendment is applied, a multitude of diversified battles will be won. Please read this important section.

ACTION FOR AMERICANS: HERE IS THE ACTION BY ANY AMERICAN WHO REALLY WANTS TO ACHIEVE RATIFICATION OF THE LIBERTY AMENDMENT

Since the purpose and design of the Liberty Amendment is to Restore Liberty in America, it is our goal to inform as many Americans as possible about how this amendment to the Constitution will accomplish this difficult task in our time. And since nine States, so far, have passed resolutions requesting Congress to initiate the ratification process, it is our intent to motivate all freedom loving citizens of the remaining States to request their State Legislators to pass a resolution endorsing the Liberty Amendment. This resolution should request Congress to initiate the preferred process of submitting the Amendment directly to the States for ratification and firmly insist that a Constitutional Convention only be called for the single purpose of ratifying the Liberty Amendment.

So now is the time – for everyone to work for the endorsement of the Liberty Amendment and for its ratification. We will have to work hard to convince our state legislators that they should introduce a resolution calling for the Congress to submit the the Amendment to the states for ratification. Please read this section to see how you can help!

Background Reading

The Liberty Amendment – its origin and progress
How the Liberty Amendment originated, its author, and a timeline of its progress through the years.

Growth of the Federal Government
The specter of Federal Government growth in size and power, and the need for the Liberty Amendment is more desperate now than ever.

Centralizing Power in the Federal Government
The erosion of the balance of powers from the States and the People – to the Federal Government, generating momentum for the Liberty Amendment movement.

Bureaucratic Domination
Bureaucratic domination and how it has accelerated in America.

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence–it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and fearful master." – George Washington

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[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo  (Original Message) Sent: 6/5/2003 7:58 PM

Note: The Liberty Amendment has already been recommended to Congress by nine state legislatures, and is being sponsored in Congress by Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) and Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ). The prior support of nine state legislatures shows that the Liberty Amendment is more than a dream if the right climate exists.
Unfortunately, it appears that Downsize DC has abandoned the Liberty Amendment. Their links go elsewhere. Searching their site gets only this one article by Harry Browne:
http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/harry_browne_%26_habeas_corpus_993

http://www.downsizedc.org/_issues/4_howto.shtml

How to repeal the federal personal income tax
In 1942 the Supreme Court overrode the Constitution to permit the internment of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps. This decision established a new legal doctrine that the federal government can ignore the Constitution whenever the courts decide it has a compelling reason to do so.

Everyone would now agree that the government had no justification for putting innocent Americans behind barbed wire, but the doctrine of "compelling state interest" was born nevertheless, and with it died the 10th Amendment.

The 10th Amendment reads:

• The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

The 10th Amendment had once confined the federal government to only those functions listed in the Constitution -- primarily courts and national defense, and a few other minor functions. But the court-created doctrine of "compelling state interest" opened the flood-gates for politicians to do practically anything they want, with the federal personal income tax providing most of the required funding.

This means that any attempt to downsize and decentralize government must eliminate the income tax and restore the full power and effect of the 10th Amendment. It must also provide a transition period for the federal government to eliminate and privatize failed programs, and to permit state governments to adopt functions that properly belong in their sphere, prior to ending the income tax.

The Liberty Amendment does all of these things. The Liberty Amendment reads…

• Section 1. The Government of the United States shall not engage in any business, professional, commercial, financial or industrial enterprise except as specified in the Constitution.
  
  
• Section 2. The constitution or laws of any State, or the laws of the United States shall not be subject to the terms of any foreign or domestic agreement which would abrogate this amendment.
  
  
• Section 3. The activities of the United States Government which violate the intent and purpose of this amendment shall, within a period of three years from the date of the ratification of this amendment, be liquidated and the properties and facilities affected shall be sold.
  
  
• Section 4. Three years after the ratification of this amendment the sixteenth article of amendments to the Constitution of the United States shall stand repealed and thereafter Congress shall not levy taxes on personal incomes, estates, and/or gifts.

The first section restores the intent of the 10th Amendment. The federal government cannot engage in any activity not listed in the Constitution. Plus, the ratification of this amendment would make it clear to the courts that the doctrine of "compelling state interest" does not have the consent of the governed, and must be abandoned.

The second section closes any loopholes that might arise from the constitutional power of the president and senate to make and ratify foreign treaties.

The third section provides a transition period for the government to eliminate or privatize unconstitutional functions, or for the states to adopt them. It also provides time to sell unneeded assets. The proceeds from this asset sale could be used to reduce the national debt.

The fourth section makes the personal income tax illegal. By delaying the end of the tax for three years, the federal government would continue to bring in large amounts of revenue while its expenses were falling. This growing surplus of income over expense could also be used to retire the national debt. Then, at the end of three years, the personal income tax would be ended.

And you would get to keep all you earn -- to save, to invest, or to spend, as you see fit.

From that point forward, constitutional functions such as national defense would be funded through excise taxes and tariffs, just as they were before 1913, with added assistance from the corporate income tax, which the Liberty Amendment does not eliminate.

The Liberty Amendment has already been recommended to Congress by nine state legislatures, and is being sponsored in Congress by Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) and Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ). The prior support of nine state legislatures shows that the Liberty Amendment is more than a dream if the right climate exists.

We want to create an environment for public debate and develop opportunities to educate Americans using our radio ads, this website, and our free email newsletter, Downsizer-Dispatch. If you like what we're doing, please sign-up for Downsizer-Dispatch using the form below. Or click here to learn what would happen to federal employees.
Unfortunately, it appears that Downsize DC has abandoned the Liberty Amendment. Their links go elsewhere. Searching their site gets only this one article by Harry Browne:
http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/harry_browne_%26_habeas_corpus_993

[DennisLeeWilson]

From: DennisLeeWilson-Ariz-Wyo Sent: 1/19/2004 6:27 PM

On some of the discussion boards that I frequent, the "Flat Tax" and the "Fair Tax" proposals to "replace" the income tax were cussed and discussed at great length. I should point out that REPEAL of the 16th Amendment (income tax) is NOT a part of either proposal. We don't want or need a new tax of any kind. Repeal of portions of the existing tax would be temporarily acceptable. And a "Fair" tax is a contradiction in terms.
 
At one point, I asked:
 
How naive can anyone be to think that the income tax will magically "go away" without repealing the 16th Amendment? (Or getting the Supreme Court to declare it invalid--ha!)

And if, by any wild stretch of imagination, the "Fair" or "Flat" Tax managed to "replace" the income tax does anyone truly believe that the newly unemployed IRS will not be used to administer this new tax? Face reality! The IRS is not going away without a radical restructuring of our culture, and the Liberty Amendment is the only and last peaceful means available. Dismantling the IRS and the income tax is exactly what the Liberty Amendment is about!

Tactics, such as some new "replacement" for the income tax, are wasted and useless without clearly defined goals, and the Liberty Amendment provides the goals. If the Liberty Amendment cannot be made into law, the alleged "Fair" Tax certainly has no chance. But what DOES stand a good chance is the attempt to divert effort, resources and attention away from the Liberty Amendment. And that sounds like a nice tactic for the IRS to use.

The only proper question for tax proposal discussion should be: "Which state is the next best candidate for endorsing the Liberty Amendment?"