[ExI] tyranny by 16th amendment

[Dan]

On Thursday, May 23, 2013 10:03 PM spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
> Since I mention first amendment rights, what about this news
> reporter who is being investigated by the Justice Department
> under the Espionage Act?  Since this is wartime (Afghanistan)
> then anyone convicted under that act could theoretically face
> a firing squad.  Anyone who is on the call list of that reporter
> is also at risk, as are his parents.  Even if he doesn’t end up
> facing a firing squad, it looks like he has an even greater risk
> of facing the IRS, and if so the firing squad would be a blessed
> relief from his problems.

Kidding aside, I'm no fan of taxation or the IRS, but I reckon since almost all people choose the audit over going to jail or shooting it out with the feds, that almost all people tend to think an audit is better than facing a firing squad.

Also, the US is not legally at war, is it? No war has been declared. In fact, the US has not declared a war, so not been legally at war, since the 1940s, no? I think Espionage Act could still face further court review. (Not that this matters to me. I'm not a constitutionalist and think those who worship the document are basically fooling themselves.)

By the way, all the "terrifying developments" have happened before. There's a tradition of presidents using the IRS against adversaries. What's more amazing is that people see this as a new thing and almost never call for getting rid of either the IRS or the presidency and their powers. Instead, usually there's just a call for changing the personnel and not the powers. What I expect will happen here is a few changes of personnel -- with maybe an undeclared war against Syria to distract most people (and most people are not interested anyhow or not for very long) -- and then the scandal will die down. If we're really, really lucky, there might be some cosmetic rules changes -- maybe adding a little bureaucratic review here and there, but nothing that will remove any of the actual powers.

Regards,


Dan
 See my SF short story "Residue":
http://www.amazon.com/Residue-ebook/dp/B00BS3T0RM/ -- US
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BS3T0RM -- UK
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00BS3T0RM -- Canada
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