Wild and Crazy Guy, John Schoen, Ya Crazy Old Lunatic You!...
In and around all the attention given to a seminal event--"Super Tuesday"-- in the long selection process for the next American Caesar, the news broke that actor Wesley Snipes was acquitted of major tax charges against him. Snipes tried to use the 861 argument to avoid paying taxes, and in response some mainstream anti-tax-protest pundits went into their typical hyperventilation mode to firmly remind us that we do indeed have tax liability.
One of them was MSNBC’s John Schoen, who in his short piece dated February 3rd used the following adjectives and epithets to describe his conception of tax protestors and their movement:
“delusional nonsense,” “comical collection,” “myth,” “non sequitur,” “misinformation,” “out of touch,” “crazies,” “kooky,” “ridiculous,” “absurd fairy tales,” “twisted,” “giant oak of nonsense,” “inanely creative theories,” “amusing,” “frivolous drivel,” “like-minded lunatics”
I selectively pulled them from the piece to highlight the fact that I think he was trying to set a record for hyperbolic name-calling without actually saying anything about what’s true about it all. I don’t think he came close to getting into Guinness because, really, this kind of thing happens all the time.
It’s all World inhabitants can say, and they seem to get such pleasure from it all.
To be honest, some of the censure is well-deserved. The web film Zeitgeist was mentioned, and I’m fully with Schoen. It is a fine cinematic piece of folly.
But it is folly for reasons Schoen himself can't quite grasp.
To Schoen and most of his toadying mainstreamers, anyone who says something genuinely penetratingly truthful about the World System belongs somewhere in the basket of pejoratives cited above. The problem is many of those who do the saying--such as the Zeitgeist crowd--are just as much blithering in the fetid whirlpool of the World. I’ve qualified this distinction as the difference between the Devout Romanists (“Just pay your taxes like a good little drone and don’t look at the man behind the green curtain”) and the Radical Selfists (“Look! Look there! There at the man behind the green curtain, and do whatever you can to kill him off!”)
Ahh, the gleeful endeavors of World inhabitants and their virulently raging culture war.
Kingdom understanding only comes with the blood of Jesus covering one’s soul and His words bathing one’s mind.
So then, what is that understanding about taxes?
The burden of proof in tax cases like Snipes is extraordinarily high, meaning some palpable intent to defraud the government must be clearly demonstrated. This is why more renowned tax protestors like Irwin Schiff and Larken Rose got nailed with substantial prison time, because they ventured deep into “We need to kill ’em off” territory.
Snipes himself was still convicted for misdemeanor charges stemming from the fact that he still claimed income and signed off on it while trying to use 861 to keep him from paying taxes. It is very true--by constitutional law and the federal tax code--that if one does not have foreign income nor is exercising the privilege of federal employment he is not liable to pay federal income taxes.
If, however, one makes the claim, signs the forms, and then lies about any part of what’s expected when one assumes tax liability, then the authorities have every right to prosecute such behavior. This was evident in one of Schoen’s remarks, which ironically tells the truth about tax liability in a quite simple way. He said,
“Modern tax ‘deniers’ have come up with an impressive collection of twisted arguments to support the idea that Uncle Sam has no right to ask American citizens to pay for the services their government provides them.”
It is true. If you get a service from the government then it may collect its cut and use the full weight of its power to get it.
The question is, are you collecting a service from the government?
If you are, then fine. You are merely expecting Caesar to be your lord and savior, to provide all sorts of codependent benefits afforded you from his kind and caring consideration. Wesley Snipes, John Schoen, the Zeitgeist filmmakers, even Irwin Schiff and Larken Rose are all law-abiding citizens who are doing Caesar’s work for Caesar’s purposes in Caesar’s kingdom.
But what if-- what if…
What if they left law-abiding and moved into truth-and-grace-living? What if they, or anyone for that matter, actually truly genuinely authentically
Made Jesus Christ their Lord instead?
That they’d make the One who not only holds the stars in their place but has their very breath in His hands, that He’d be the One they listen to?
Listen to so much that they’d love with such a love that they would blow away anyone whom they encountered with wholeness, healing, gentleness, kindness, and phenomenal increase of what’s truly valuable at least a hundred-fold for all those around? And do these things with such abandon that
There would be no reason at all for them to have to hand over the representation of that value to Caesar in the form of income taxes, nor would Caesar expect such a payment because he has absolutely no authority in such a realm?
This is precisely why a powerful media shrill like John Schoen can call those tax-wrestlers all those things. He only sees people twisting in the wind trying to be “tax-free” when indeed they do look quite foolish. But as one without Christ himself--or, to give him credit, as one with a straw-man World Christ--he looks just as foolish having nothing of substance to say himself.
When Jesus said His Kingdom was not of the World, it is amazing to see just how far away it is. Wow, it’s a long, long way away.
But His hand graciously reaches across long distances.
Who is this Jesus guy, really? Here're some thoughts. And what is the deal with taxes? Some brief thoughts on that are here.
One of them was MSNBC’s John Schoen, who in his short piece dated February 3rd used the following adjectives and epithets to describe his conception of tax protestors and their movement:
“delusional nonsense,” “comical collection,” “myth,” “non sequitur,” “misinformation,” “out of touch,” “crazies,” “kooky,” “ridiculous,” “absurd fairy tales,” “twisted,” “giant oak of nonsense,” “inanely creative theories,” “amusing,” “frivolous drivel,” “like-minded lunatics”
I selectively pulled them from the piece to highlight the fact that I think he was trying to set a record for hyperbolic name-calling without actually saying anything about what’s true about it all. I don’t think he came close to getting into Guinness because, really, this kind of thing happens all the time.
It’s all World inhabitants can say, and they seem to get such pleasure from it all.
To be honest, some of the censure is well-deserved. The web film Zeitgeist was mentioned, and I’m fully with Schoen. It is a fine cinematic piece of folly.
But it is folly for reasons Schoen himself can't quite grasp.
To Schoen and most of his toadying mainstreamers, anyone who says something genuinely penetratingly truthful about the World System belongs somewhere in the basket of pejoratives cited above. The problem is many of those who do the saying--such as the Zeitgeist crowd--are just as much blithering in the fetid whirlpool of the World. I’ve qualified this distinction as the difference between the Devout Romanists (“Just pay your taxes like a good little drone and don’t look at the man behind the green curtain”) and the Radical Selfists (“Look! Look there! There at the man behind the green curtain, and do whatever you can to kill him off!”)
Ahh, the gleeful endeavors of World inhabitants and their virulently raging culture war.
Kingdom understanding only comes with the blood of Jesus covering one’s soul and His words bathing one’s mind.
So then, what is that understanding about taxes?
The burden of proof in tax cases like Snipes is extraordinarily high, meaning some palpable intent to defraud the government must be clearly demonstrated. This is why more renowned tax protestors like Irwin Schiff and Larken Rose got nailed with substantial prison time, because they ventured deep into “We need to kill ’em off” territory.
Snipes himself was still convicted for misdemeanor charges stemming from the fact that he still claimed income and signed off on it while trying to use 861 to keep him from paying taxes. It is very true--by constitutional law and the federal tax code--that if one does not have foreign income nor is exercising the privilege of federal employment he is not liable to pay federal income taxes.
If, however, one makes the claim, signs the forms, and then lies about any part of what’s expected when one assumes tax liability, then the authorities have every right to prosecute such behavior. This was evident in one of Schoen’s remarks, which ironically tells the truth about tax liability in a quite simple way. He said,
“Modern tax ‘deniers’ have come up with an impressive collection of twisted arguments to support the idea that Uncle Sam has no right to ask American citizens to pay for the services their government provides them.”
It is true. If you get a service from the government then it may collect its cut and use the full weight of its power to get it.
The question is, are you collecting a service from the government?
If you are, then fine. You are merely expecting Caesar to be your lord and savior, to provide all sorts of codependent benefits afforded you from his kind and caring consideration. Wesley Snipes, John Schoen, the Zeitgeist filmmakers, even Irwin Schiff and Larken Rose are all law-abiding citizens who are doing Caesar’s work for Caesar’s purposes in Caesar’s kingdom.
But what if-- what if…
What if they left law-abiding and moved into truth-and-grace-living? What if they, or anyone for that matter, actually truly genuinely authentically
Made Jesus Christ their Lord instead?
That they’d make the One who not only holds the stars in their place but has their very breath in His hands, that He’d be the One they listen to?
Listen to so much that they’d love with such a love that they would blow away anyone whom they encountered with wholeness, healing, gentleness, kindness, and phenomenal increase of what’s truly valuable at least a hundred-fold for all those around? And do these things with such abandon that
There would be no reason at all for them to have to hand over the representation of that value to Caesar in the form of income taxes, nor would Caesar expect such a payment because he has absolutely no authority in such a realm?
This is precisely why a powerful media shrill like John Schoen can call those tax-wrestlers all those things. He only sees people twisting in the wind trying to be “tax-free” when indeed they do look quite foolish. But as one without Christ himself--or, to give him credit, as one with a straw-man World Christ--he looks just as foolish having nothing of substance to say himself.
When Jesus said His Kingdom was not of the World, it is amazing to see just how far away it is. Wow, it’s a long, long way away.
But His hand graciously reaches across long distances.
Who is this Jesus guy, really? Here're some thoughts. And what is the deal with taxes? Some brief thoughts on that are here.
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