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Chodorov (was Freedom Forum)




On Sun, 21 Dec 1997 23:19:36 -0500 Duncan Frissell wrote:

> I sort of like Tim's reasoning.
> 
> It's reminiscent of Frank Chordorov's remarks back 
> during the McCarthy Era.  "If you're worried about 
> Communists in government jobs; get rid of the 
> government jobs."

Required reading for revolutionaries of the digital era,
from a very bright light of the 1950's and one who
did much to shape the movement that became libertarianism.
Following are two excerpts, the first from commentary on
a current Web page, the second from Chodorov's 1954 book.

"The Sixteenth Amendment passed because the country thought 
only the rich would pay. In 1910 William Shelton, a 
Georgian, wrote that Southerners favored ratification 
'because none of us here have $4,000 incomes, and somebody 
else will have to pay the tax.' This view proved 
shortsighted. As Frank Chodorov noted in The Income Tax: 
Root of All Evil: 'At first it was the incomes of 
corporations, then of rich citizens, then of well-provided
widows and opulent workers, and finally the wealth of 
housemaids and the tips of waitresses. This is all in line 
with the ability-to-pay doctrine. The poor, simply because 
there are more of them, have more ability to pay than the 
rich.'"

    - www.elibrary.compuserve.com/qotd/10087/fetch/philk_04.htm

"Author's Introduction:  Argument

"Tradition has a way of hanging on even after it is, for 
all practical purposes, dead. We in this country still use 
individualistic terms -- as, for instance, the rights of 
man -- when, as a matter of fact, we think and behave in 
the framework of collectivistic doctrine. We support and 
advocate such practices as farm-support prices, social 
security, government housing, socialized medicine, 
conscription, and all sorts of ideas that stem from the
thesis that man has no rights except those given him by
government.

"Despite this growing tendency to look to political power
as the source of material betterment and as the guide to
our personal destinies, we still talk of limited government,
states' rights, checks and balances, and of the personal
virtues of thrift, industry, and initiative. Thanks to our
literature, the tradition hangs on even though it has lost
force.

"But there are many Americans to whom the new trend is
distasteful, partly because they are traditionalists, partly
because they find it personally unpleasant, partly because
reason tells that it must lead to the complete subjugation
of the individual, as in Nazi Germany or Communits Russia,
and they don't like the prospect. It is for these Americans
that this book is written. They are the "elite" -- the
questing spirits who in all times effect revolutionary
changes. For a revolution now is certainly in order. And
by "revolution" I mean the return to the people of that
sovereignty which our tradition assumes them to have. I mean
the return to them of the power which government has 
confiscated by way of the Sixteenth Amendment.

"When you examine any species of government intervention
you find that it is made possible by revenues. A government
is as strong as its income. Contrariwise, the independence
of the people is in direct proportion to the amount of 
their wealth that they can enjoy. We cannot restore 
traditional American freedom unless we limit the 
government's power to tax. No tinkering with this, or that, 
or the other law will stop the trend toward socialism. We 
must repeal the Sixteenth Amendment."

    - F. C.

"XII. For Freedom's Sake [excerpted]

"Whether there are any mystic forces pushing men along a 
path from which there is no escape, is a moot question.
But there is no questioning the fact that throughout
history men have regularly made excursions in quest of
freedom, and that every one of these excursions was
identified by its leadership. It is a logical inference
therefore that when men of that stripe appear on the
scene the cause of freedom is not neglected. Perhaps,
after all, the present plight of freedom in America is
due to lack of leadership.

"If, for instance, those who prate about 'free enterprise'
were willing to risk bankruptcy for it, even as the men of
the Declaration risked their necks for independence, the
present drive for the collectivization of capital would
not have such easy going. Assuming that they are fully
aware of the implications of the phrase they mouth, and
are sincere in the protestations, the fact that they are
unwilling to suffer mortification of the flesh disqualifies
them for leadership, and the case for 'free enterprise' is
hopeless.

"The present low estate of freedom in this country must be
laid to lack of the proper leadership -- to men who know
that freedom is and who do not equate it with their own
'standard of living.' Whether or not leadership could have
averted, or can still stop, the trend toward socialism,
may be open to question; that a glorious fight for freedom
might yet enliven the American scene is not. Whether a
fight for freedom will be crowned with success, is less
important than the fight itself, for if nothing comes of
it, the improvement in the spirit of the fighters will be
a gain, and they cannot help but keep alive the values
that will make America a better climate for their offspring
to live in.

"There is no accounting for the emergence of these superior
men, these "sports of nature," who sporadically shape the
course of mankind. They come, as it were, from nowhere, and
nobody has yet conclusively explained their advent. But,
they come. When in her own time and her own pleasure Nature
deems America ready for and worthy of them, she will give
us the men who will make the good fight. It seems reasonable
to assume that their first objective will be -- Repeal of
the Sixteenth Amendment."

_the_income_tax_ (subtitled _root_of_all_evil_)
by Frank Chodorov, foreword by J Bracken Lee
Copyright 1954 by Frank Chodorov
The Devin-Adair Company, Old Greenwich CT 06870
Second printing Feb 1963
Third printing Jun 1974
(no ISBN)

Although I don't know, I think it likely this precious 
little book is out of print.

We Jurgar Din