We have seen the enemy, and it is us!

That's a mouthful!  Mike, I suggest asking ChatGPT to rewrite this as an article entitled "Is Socialism a Religion?"  There's a lot of good info in there. ;-)

Taxes are merely to create classes to fight against each other, and justify stealing the fruits of the labors of others.  The inconvenient truth that over a lifetime, 99% of your labors are taxed through the use of fiat currency.  The 'dollar' has lost 99.93% of its value since 1972.  Just look at the cost of living now compared to then.  It's because our trading medium becomes worthless over time.  It's still amazing what we can do with 1% of our labors — imagine if we still used a hard currency instead of interest-bearing debt for money!!  We are slaves paying for our own servitude!  Sure the conditions have improved, but we have no idea how much productivity has been passed on to our masters in exchange.

It is my understanding that the 'income tax' collected by the IRS is assessed by assigning various excise tax codes to a person's payments for labor — because excise taxes are the only lawful taxes that the federal government may collect. 

I remember reading many years ago that people could order the IRS to remove those tax codes from their file as they did not apply to anything that they were doing — like importing liquor, selling tobacco or drugs for which the excise taxes apply.

'Income' was originally defined as gains from investments, and only 1% was the rate on incomes greater than $500,000 in 1913 money (when the dollar was still pegged to gold — that would be $125 million today!).  The truth is that income taxes were a condition by the Federal Reserve for issuing fiat currency (i.e. Federal Reserve Notes).  The price for paper money has always been perpetual debt upon the people forever.  The nation is in fact in a state of perpetual bankruptcy to the Fed, which governs the use of 'temporary' script until the US becomes solvent (which it can never do, by design).  The issue is that for those that know how the system works, the profits are too immense to turn down — they would never be possible with a hard currency. 

Just as an aside, a nickel in 1972 when the dollar was still pegged to gold at $35/oz, is the equivalent to $7 today!  Income taxes are issued only to keep the common man down.  They are entirely unnecessary since the government funds itself by printing up money.  $15/week salary (with a very low tax rate also) is equivalent to $2142/week now.  The entire western world has been duped!!

The slick creation of the 'US citizen' via the 13th Amendment clouds the issue.  I think in actuality, state citizenship has never been revoked, just as the sovereignty of each state hasn't been revoked, just ignored (see the War Between the States).  Statism has become the de facto norm as a result.  But, yes, there are no 'common law' writs that grant the US government to manage immigration (and a whole host of other things they do like issue birth certificates from the US Treasury, etc.).

True, Mike!  I wonder when a state like California is going to assert their sovereignty to allow 'illegal' immigrants to have state citizenship as they are entitled.

Good point, Mike.  It would be better if that power was not assumed...

I suppose I would like to see the source of Roberts' assertion that "the admission and exclusion of foreign nationals is a 'fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by the Government’s political departments largely immune from judicial control.'"  I am inclined to agree, nevertheless.  If the Executive is responsible for defending the national borders, I would think that the Executive would have some power to determine who can cross those borders and their status once in the country.  If state citizenship were still recognized, they could legislate their own rules for emigrating into their state.

Mike, when the US Constitution and the state constitutions were ratified, people were considered citizens of their own (sovereign) state.  So, in that context, you are correct.  But even George Washington acknowledged that only people who were willing to adopt the 'American way' should be allowed to emigrate and so that the customs of a people not accustomed to freedom and the responsibility that comes with it do not outnumber the patriots who fought hard for their freedom from state supremacy.

Contrary to popular belief, there is more than enough charity to go around — but there will never be enough for all to live at the expense of the charitable forever. 

Let us not forget that the welfare programs funded now are subsidized by loading future generations with debt.  And as long as we use debt-bearing script as our money supply, this debt will continue to grow exponentially until the nation is completely bankrupted — which, by the way, is the goal, thus giving the robber barons everything. 

This is what happens when you don't get an education in economics.  Again, this is by design because the common man trusts his representatives to protect them from such tyranny.  Unfortunately, our representatives are in on the grift.

Excise taxes are the only lawful taxes authorized by the national and state constitutions.  Taxes on income were originally based on defining income as returns on investments and were topped at 1% over $500,000 (in 1934 dollars!).  If you look at how the IRS justifies taxing our labors, you would be surprised to learn that our labors are categorized into various excise tax codes because they have never been authorized to tax the labors of the people — even King George didn't do that!

A classic!

Well said!  I wonder how much Sigmund Freud understood it...

Indeed, this is a double-edged sword. We should not fear bad ideas as long as we have the opportunity to counter them with facts.

For the most part, this is the way humanity advances.

That's not to say the costs of freedom are cheap — far from it!  But it appears that the costs of oppression are ever recurring and increasing with interest, while the costs of freedom may be high at first, but the benefits far outweigh the maintenance costs. 😉

How about an informed people that are brought up knowing their rights and the foundations upon which America was founded?  That would promote true patriotism.  I obviously got a different education than most... and it was mostly due to my own desire to understand how things REALLY work.

Yes, actions speak louder than words.  Reagan often said the right thing, but the State carried right along nevertheless...

Indeed, that's all We the People need do — stop any minor encroachments to our liberty immediately.  Once the dam breaks, it's too late to stop the flood.

In the context of forcing one's will upon another, the 'remedy' will be temporal.  Better to inspire others, acquire agreement, and act in good faith — that's a 'force' to be reckoned with.

Sort of like 'my values' or 'my truth'...  The truth is the truth!  I dislike today's current jargon masking hypocrisy, justifying evil, promoting lawlessness (not statutory but natural law).  The 'narrative' is just that, a narrative — it is not real.

Good point!  Therefore we are all responsible for the usurpations of power in our governments.  We benefit when our governments cause coup d'etats in other nations.  Every oppression our governments impose, we are responsible to stop.  Every lie we allow to go unopposed, funnels more money and power to the illegitimate.  As we sow, so shall we reap!

That's called putting your money where your mouth is!  Love it!

I agree with Mike.  As Dylan sings, "You can serve the devil or you can serve the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody." ;-)

Speaking as one who could never understand the desire to control people, I have faced this social pressure from my youth onwards.  I have mostly wanted to be left alone to seek to understand the world organically, not to be herded like cattle into programmed settings I am compelled to follow.  Those that have never tried, don't know the hidden hand.  Those that have are told to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  Indeed, the truth shall make one free.