Simon Black – I’m in New Haven today to attend the funeral of Irwin Schiff, who unfortunately passed away last weekend.

If you’ve never heard of Irwin, he was one of the original “tax protestors”.

He believed not only that paying federal income was unconstitutional, but actually went so far as to stop paying tax altogether.

And he spent years of his life in prison as a result.

Now, you may not agree with his philosophy or its legal basis.

But I hope we can agree that keeping an 87-year old terminally ill cancer patient handcuffed to a hospital bed for failing to file taxes is a disgusting reflection of modern America.

The fact that failing to file taxes is even a criminal matter at all in the Land of the Free is truly bizarre.

In civilized countries, tax matters are precisely that– civil. They don’t throw people in prison with violent felons over something so trivial.

But this has become the way of so many things in the Land of the Free.

Aside from the most obscure violation of the US federal tax code, which goes on for thousands of pages, you can go to jail for violating any number of federal regulations, the sum of which could fill an entire football stadium.

And that’s precisely the problem with this place.

You see, I think the United States really is wonderful… with a huge caveat.

America has some of the nicest malls in the world. There are so many quality brands and luxurious shops. The restaurants are fantastic with speedy, efficient service. Continue reading →