Continued thanks to the many that have contributed to what is expected to be a legal battle of historic proportions and untold significance to the future of the Republic. To date, approximately $50,000 of the $285,000 necessary to move the Right To Petition lawsuit forward into the courts has been raised. So everyone can see how quickly we are making progress, we will periodically update our home web page with new totals reflected in the graphic. Bob Schulz also wants to briefly recap for everyone WHY they should support this historic lawsuit and WHY this case, above all other attempts to date, has a significant chance of making history:

1)  The lawsuit is NOT about income taxes.  It is about the Right to ASK our elected representatives QUESTIONS about their behavior if we suspect they are violating our individual and unalienable Rights or are otherwise violating the Constitution. Further, this lawsuit is about our Right to get ANSWERS and our Right to RETAIN our money if government refuses to answer our questions.

By placing the 1st Amendment Right to Petition issue squarely before the Judiciary, this lawsuit clearly and unambiguously presents the most fundamental legal question: Is the U.S. Government a servant government, limited by a written Constitution, or is it free to ignore the Constitution and do whatever it wants to do?

There CAN BE NO MIDDLE GROUND in the Court's answer.  The Court will either re-affirm that the People are sovereign and have the ultimate power in our society, or it will say that ours is a government of, by and for the government – that is, the State.

Is our country a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC, with individual and unalienable Rights enforceable by Petitions for Redress, or has our country become a DEMOCRACY, where the only Rights are those of the majority as derived from the ballot box?

As an American, what is the answer to this question worth?
   

2)  This is a “first impression” lawsuit -- the courts have NOT ruled on the meaning of this “forgotten” Right – the Right to Petition the government for a Redress of Grievances.

Amazingly, unlike the extensive examination the courts have engaged in regarding such Rights as free press, free speech, search and seizure, due process, etc., the courts have NEVER ruled on the substantive meaning and implications of the last ten words of the First Amendment.

In short, this lawsuit does NOT require the court to address two hundred years of twisted, contorted legal precedent. As a "new" matter before the court, the Judiciary will be called upon to interpret the original intent of the framers of the Constitution and consider the historical application, and the means of securing and exercising this Right. 

In those respects, the historical record is clear: until approximately 1840, the Right of Petition was used extensively by Individuals to question the behavior or their elected representatives, and they always received an answer, even from their federal congressmen. Because of the large number of Petitions from abolitionists in the 1830s, Congress passed an in-house rule requiring the permanent tabling of all such Petitions.

Unfortunately, the People did nothing to enforce their Right to receive an answer to their Petitions. There was no “tax revolt.” There was no court challenge. Consequently, that behavior of Congress became the precedent for further acts of silence by Congressmen (and, eventually, all elected officials) in receipt of Petitions for Redress of Grievances.

Today, the only People our elected representatives respond to are lobbyists. Unless you can deliver wads of money and/or blocks of votes, any response you might get from your elected representative to a meaningful Petition for Redress will be a “non-responsive” response.

The historical record shows the Founding Fathers articulated -- in their OWN WORDS -- that the People have the Right to withhold their money until their grievances are redressed. Paradoxically, the powers contained in this core Right may be the VERY REASON it has not been litigated to date. Everything in the legal literature indicates that there is only ONE losing party with regard to the Right to Petition -- and it is not the People. 

If the servant government is taking over the house, do we have the Right to starve the servant if the servant decides it does not have to answer to us, and will not justify its behavior?

As an American, what is the answer to this question worth?
 

3)   The Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances includes the Right of Protection from Retaliation.

As plaintiffs in the suit, we enjoy a legal PRESUMPTION of protection -- particularly where constitutionally protected Rights are involved. 

The nature of the lawsuit's 1^st Amendment arguments and irrefutable Constitutional truths regarding the nature of popular sovereignty, should prevent the government from being able to advance, via statutory or judicial sophistry, ANY valid legal argument that can deny this protection to us, the Plaintiff-Petitioners.

If we are successful, as we believe we will be, IRS and DOJ will be STOPPED, i.e., ENJOINED, from enforcing ANY tax collection efforts against ANY member of the plaintiff class until the merits of the case are decided.  

In practical terms, this means NO more liens, levies, demand letters, prosecutions, hearings, harassment, armed raids, summonses, filings of individual tax returns (Form 1040), tax withholding by employers, etc., at least until such time that the court makes a formal determination on the issues raised in the lawsuit.  

As an American, what is this legal protection from IRS and DOJ retaliation worth?
 

4)  A "window of opportunity" to manifest history...

Unless we commit ourselves to this cause, act soon and act together, We the People may soon lose what opportunity remains to end the abuses we endure.

It is no secret that our government is out of control and on a trajectory that will ultimately result in tragedy for the People, and the irretrievable loss of freedom.  It is time to pool our resources, commit to our cause and get on with the defense of our freedom. Freedom has never been free.  Those that have fought for and defended it know this best.

We again refer to the history books that our grandchildren will someday study.  There are many possible futures for our Republic, but only one in which the People enjoy true Liberty.  That potential future requires us to act -- and act now.  Time, events and Providence have brought us to the moment where a personal decision must be made.  If we do nothing, the results are easily predictable.  It is, really -- and truly, our choice. 

To put our objective in practical terms, if just 780 more Patriots were to donate $300 each, we would be in court within a week. 

Will you go down in history as an American who committed to seize the moment – to sail the boisterous sea of Liberty in the interest of defending the Constitution -- or will you be one of the faceless Americans who chose to endure the calm sea of despotism?

Please join with us and help create history the way a free People would want it to be recorded.

Click Here to make your donation.  
 

Be sure to read the short notes on the donation page regarding potential technical problems that some supporters have encountered while trying to donate. Remember, all credit card donations can be processed online or by mail/e-mail.
 

** On-line Conference Registration Opens Later This Week! Give Me Liberty 2004 The First Annual We The People Foundation & Congress National Conference Washington DC, Thursday-Saturday, January 22-24, 2004 Click Here to read the Full Announcement

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