Dakota Beacon

The Red River Valley Patriots held a rally on the lawn of the old Grand Forks County Courthouse on Saturday, September 11 at “high noon”. For more information visit their website at www.redrivervalleypatriots.com, call 701-335-7790, or donate by mailing your check to PO Box 294, East Grand Forks, MN 56721. The event was well organized and provided a much needed service in letting speakers from the audience vent their frustrations concerning the socialist legislation coming out of Washington, DC this year.

I was privileged to present a five minute speech as Thomas Paine. The speech (see below) focused on Paine’s deist faith, the taxes on tea, the Revolutionary War, and property taxes…which were called the “house and window tax” in England at the time.

Many in the audience were quite surprised that the United Kingdom has no property tax today, later echoing the number one question I received at the state fair in July “How will we fund police and fire without property taxes?” Of course the answer is simple…it is spelled “O” “I” “L”. I’m confident that local officials would prioritize police and fire over, for example, the monorail transportation system proposed last week by a “progressive” to be constructed between the combined campuses of UND and NDSU, which would be perhaps called the University of North Dakota State University. And the media says that tea partiers are kooks!

Saturday evening found me in Fargo at the Air Museum for the North Dakota Policy Council’s “Free Market Forum” featuring Barry Goldwater Jr. and Dr. Thomas Woods, Jr. Dr. Woods’ presentation was nothing less than amazing. This articulate gentleman held the audience spellbound throughout his speech and exhibited a mastery of history that is unparalleled in his concise answers during a question and answer session.

I received a copy of Dr, Woods; new book “Nullification – How to Resist Tyranny in the 21^st Century”, a great dinner, and the excellent company of conservative friends, all for only $50! Dr. Woods provided much needed inspiration to conservatives by explaining how individual states of groups of states have, can, and will continue to “thumb their noses” at the federal government when it comes to issues for which the US Constitution provides no legitimacy for federal action. An immediate example that came to my mind was the “sanctuary cities” that harbor illegal aliens and how they, to this day, operate with impunity in opposition to immigration law. Right of Wrong, many actions of the federal government, including those of the supreme court, are simply ignored by individual states…BECAUSE THEY CAN…WHEN THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS AMENDMENTS DO NOT EXPLICITLY AUTHORIZE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ACT.

Sunday found me again up early to make it to Williston’s September 12^th Tea Party where Thomas Paine again offered a founder’s perspective (see speech below). The event was very well organized and attracted about 350 to 400 people. Highlights included an update and warning for vigilance on several “Cap & Tax” variations in the works from Kevin Cramer, a beautiful rendition of a Lee Greenwood song by Paula Slow, and a serious warning concerning Obamacare from Dr. John Andelin.

Thomas Paine on Property Taxes

My name is Thomas Paine. I was born in England in 1737. I am a civil engineer, writer, and philosopher but was known primarily as a pamphleteer and revolutionary. I personally prefer only to be remembered as a citizen of the Age of Enlightenment.

When I was only eight years of age, I began to doubt and disagree with the Bible. From these inquisitive beginnings in childhood and throughout my entire adult life I developed a belief that the universe is guided by what I call “natural law”, that our hearts are guided by divine law. I believe in a God who holds reverence for us all.

After reading my book “The Age of Reason”, Theodore Roosevelt labeled me an atheist but this is not so; I am a Deist. In one of my essays I boldly claimed that “Deism teaches us that God is a God of truth and justice”. In his 1978 book “The Road Less Traveled”, M. Scott Peck suggested that when faith is soulful, it is always planted in the soil of wonder and questioning.  Both the angel of belief and the devil of doubt play constructive roles in a rounded out faith. This ability to see, with clarity, both the strengths and weaknesses of mankind and of oneself is, I believe, a key to being an effective leader.

Throughout my life I have been dedicated to the liberation of all who are oppressed. When the monarchy of England tried to impose its rule upon the colonies and deprive them of fundamental rights, I was compelled to write the pamphlets that ushered in the American Revolution, just as I would be compelled to write for any cause that had its roots in reason and humanity. No person is exempt from a duty and responsibility to preserve and defend freedom as exemplified by our Minutemen on April 18^th and 19^th, 1775 with the battles at Lexington and Concord.

I hold that there is more to “liberty” than a nice sounding word. My fervent and passionate writings uphold the universal belief that men were not made to be slaves, that children are undeserving of cruelty, and that a government should exist FOR the people and not against the people.

In “The American Crisis” I wrote “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

My enemies, very large in number, described me as "cocksure", a “rabble rouser”, "egotistical", a "disastrous meteor", and portrayed me as a drunkard and lower class upstart. To friends and supporters, of course, I was a brilliant hero of outstanding integrity.

My work in fomenting the American and French revolutions will be remembered forever. My basic contention was that the enormous increase in taxation suffered by the people of England in the few centuries prior to the Revolutionary War was due to "extravagance, corruption, and intrigue". Maintaining that of the total annual English tax bill of 17 million pounds, only one million and a half, or 8.8 percent, was necessary, I proceeded to show how the remaining taxes should be disposed of.

Following the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781 and the much delayed official end of the war on September 3^rd, 1783, the Commutation Act of 1784 reduced the tax on tea from 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent. The smuggling of tea ceased to be profitable, and the smuggling trade vanished virtually overnight. More importantly tea was treated as a necessity rather than a luxury with long term implications for lower tea taxes. The consumption of lower taxed tea rocketed, so much so that even with the reduced rate of tax, the amount of revenue collected from tea was soon restored and eventually exceeded pre-reduction revenue.

During the transition to increased revenue, England made up for the revenue lost by hugely increasing the “window tax”. This was a property tax which was much easier to enforce. I demanded that the tax on “houses and windows” should be abolished because these placed heavy burdens upon persons least able to bear them. Today, there are no property taxes in the United Kingdom. Late last year, however, the liberal democrats in the UK brought forward a proposal (called the “mansion tax”) to place a ½ percent tax annually on the amount of any home’s value over a million pounds, said to affect 250,000 houses. When the plan’s defenders suggested the tax perhaps could be deferred and then assessed in totality upon the estate, opponents rightly labeled it simply an increase in the inheritance tax. So the “tax the rich” phenomenon that prevents internal economic expansion and destroys jobs is not just a cancer in the United States congress, it has become a worldwide epidemic!

In closing, I wish to advise you of a petition being circulated around your state to place a measure on the ballot that, if passed by the voters, would abolish property taxes in North Dakota. It is a constitutional revision that replaces local property tax revenues with state tax revenues. Please sign the petition before you leave today to allow the debate to begin and please also take a free explanation of the measure home with you so you may better understand it.

Thank you for your kind attention and may God richly bless these United States of America.

© 2010 Lynn A. Bergman