The 16th Amendment: The Constitutional Structure of Our Society has been Destroyed

The 16th Amendment

The Constitutional Structure of Our Society has been Destroyed

Those who wrote the US Constitution were very concerned about the potential for the government to change the structure of our society to one of tyranny. To preserve our liberties and freedom and to prevent tyranny they added into the Constitution financial barriers that limited the ability of Congress to levy taxes. Those barriers, together with the checks and balances and the division of power were intended to prevent tyranny from getting a foothold in America. Unfortunately, the structure of our society that the US Constitution was designed to create and preserve no longer exists. That structure was destroyed when the 16th Amendment was ratified, in 1913.

What changed when the 16th Amendment was ratified?

With the barriers to levying taxes shattered, and the power to tax expanded, America immediately began to change. The major changes that occurred include the following:

One: The Movement of Money Changed.

The bulk of the tax money used to go from you to lower governments (cities, towns, and villages), then to the upper governments (to the county and then to the state), and then to the federal government. With the adoption of the 16th Amendment that movement immediately reversed course. The largest chunk of money was now being sent directly from you to the federal government, and it began to trickle down – with federal government imposed conditions and mandates attached.

Two: Oversight was Lost.

With the 16th Amendment in place, and the bulk of federal money now coming directly from the citizens, this reversal produced the immediate loss of local government control and oversight over the activities and expenditures of the upper levels of government. Every citizen of the United States now had to be concerned about controlling the spending of all levels of government, including the federal government’s. An impossible task.

Three: The Political Structure of Our Republic was Destroyed.

With the elimination of the need to depend on the ‘direct tax’ on the states “… in proportion to the census…” many other changes occurred.

A – The Senators were no longer required to consider the impact of the federal budget on their state’s per capita tax bill. From now on, that bill would be zero because Congress now had the power to assure sufficient funds were available by simply passing a bill raising the income tax rate. The Senate, in the past, could only accept or reject the budget passed by the House. Now it began adding to the budget.

B – With the Senate no longer needing to go back to the States, hat in hand, to collect funds to run the federal government, the State’s lost control over the federal budget. As a result, Congress felt justified in proposing, and ratifying, the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment removed the responsibility of State legislatures to appoint US Senators and authorized US Senators to be directly elected by popular vote, and thus represent the citizens of the state instead of the state government.

C – With the ratification of the 17th Amendment and US Senators being elected by popular vote, the state governments not only lost their control of the Senate, they no longer had representation in a republic form of federal government, a guarantee made to them by Article 4 of the US Constitution. The federal government now took on the structure of a democratic representative form of government.

Four – New Societal Structural Features (organizations) were Created.

The financial structure created by the 16th Amendment required new organizations to be created as features of our society. To collect the taxes, Congress reestablished the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an organization often referred to as the ‘most vicious collection agency in the world’. To control the wealth of the nation, Congress created the Federal Reserve. Numerous federal departments, agencies and organizations were created, the scope and number of which now seem to have no limit except the imagination of the Senators and Representatives in Congress. Funding certainly was no longer a barrier.

Five: Income Tax Dramatically Changed the Lives of Every Citizen.

You grew up with the change already in place, so you probably never questioned the obligations placed on you. Nevertheless, unlike the obligations of people prior to 1913, you are required to turn in a financial report annually to the government identifying every penny you earned (from whatever source derived).

Why? Because, with the 16th amendment in place, your wages, profits, and earnings are not considered to be your money by the government. While you have much discretion concerning how you spend the money that the government allows you to keep, Congress works hard to ensure you spend the money you are allowed to keep the way Congress wants you to spend it. If you don’t, more of their money will be taken from you. They start with a “standard deduction”. That is the absolute minimum amount of money that the government has determined that you will need to spend just to survive. The government will let you keep that amount unquestioned. However, everything else, in the government’s eyes, is up for grabs. Many tax bills passed by Congress are intended to control your spending. Some give you tax credits. If you spend what they let you keep on certain items you will be given back (or be allowed to keep) some additional portion of the government’s money that you earned (ex. Solar energy investments). Other bills passed by Congress are written to impose penalties if you don’t spend the government’s money on certain items. (ex. Obamacare, i.e., the Affordable Care Act).

Let’s face it, if your earnings, wages, and profits were yours, the government would not be dictating to you how to, and how not to spend it.

What to do

If you woke up one day and realized that you never again had to report to any government how much money you earned, how you earned it, how you spent it, or where you saved it, would your life change? Here are two suggested simplified tax forms that might help you decide.

Do you have a preference?

As long as there is a direct tax on income, the Master/Slave relationship will exist and you will have to report to the government every penny you earn, and how and where you spent and saved the government’s money.

Rescinding the 16th Amendment is the greatest challenge Americans will ever face. If we are to ever restore the structure of our society and reestablish the liberties and freedoms that the US Constitution was designed to create and preserve, the 16th Amendment must be rescinded. But let’s be realistic. It will take time to unweave the tangle of interrelations that have been created since the 16th Amendment has been enacted

I look forward to the day when individuals and businesses in America are truly free and have the liberty to earn as much money as they desire and are no longer tyrannized by the government’s demand to report their financial details. What individuals and businesses do with their money and how much they earn should be none of the government’s business!

There are several pathways to attain this goal (1). I am running for the NY Assembly seat because the State Assembly is one place where the process of rescinding the 16th Amendment can begin. Pushing for a balanced budget amendment and a balanced state budget would be a good start. Removing unconstitutional and tyrannical legislative activity from the budgets would also be a good first start. Other activities could include working to restructure the money flow in the state in order to eliminate income tax. We can start the process of eliminating real estate taxes by giving cities, towns, and villages more options for funding other than real estate taxes.

I joined the Libertarian party after I realized that the Libertarian Party solutions do not need the 16th Amendment or access to the wealth of the nation. It is the only political party that has committed itself to the elimination of the 16th Amendment.

If you would like to break the Master/Slave relationship that the 16th amendment created consider supporting my efforts to become your NYS Assemblyman. I assure you, rescinding the 16th Amendment and restructuring the finances of our state government are among my political objectives.

Vote Libertarian

Vote Mark Glogowski for Assembly

(1) The obvious pathway of rescinding the 16th Amendment is through the US Congress. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen as long as the Democrats and Republicans dominate Congress. A constitutional convention is another route, but this route is fraught with danger, the likely outcome being the establishment of many forms of tyranny as the Law of the Land.