IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA
GREENVILLE DIVISION 

United States of America              }         
Plaintiff                             }         No. 05cv2734-hmh             
Vs.       			      }         Answer
Robert Clarkson, individually         }
and dba The Patriot Network           }
Defendants                            }

Defendants Robert Clarkson individually and Robert Clarkson dba The Patriot Network hereby file their Answer to the Complaint of the Plaintiff United States dated 21 Sept 05:

  1. Defendants deny each and every allegation, charge and fact in said complaint and demand strict proof thereof. The burden of proof lies with the plaintiff and their complaint if full of misstatements, misrepresentations, myths, downright lies, etc.
  2. The fact or charges of the government fall in three arrears:
    1. A few of the facts are true and solid precedents support the DOJ. To these, Clarkson will sign and abide by a consent order. For example, Defendants have nothing about the unTaxing packet on their website and do very little untaxing.
    2. Many of the facts alleged either do not exist or have never existed or they took place so long ago that Clarkson cannot remember them. The Court should limit this case to Clarkson’s activities only for the last 10 years and thusly limited the huge amount of discovery material due from the IRS and DOJ. does not claim responsibility for material on his website that is so old that it is outdated, ancient or no longer relevant. Clarkson is responsible for the new material unless incorrect. The newest writings by him have a small date at the end.
    3. Most of the charges by the government pertain to the political activities of Clarkson and his friend The Great One, the caped crusader. These activities and corresponding material on his website are protected free speech in a free country.
    4. Some of the website may fall in a gray area and the Judge may have to decide. Some of the articles and a portion of one video/DVD/audio deal with Clarkson’s views on the history of the income tax. If the prosecutor has precedent against him, Defendant will agree to remove the offending portions.The website in question is www.patriotnetwork.info . Almost all of Defendants past and current programs and activities are fully explained on said website.
  3. Injunction is an extreme remedy and cannot be used if less drastic remedies exit. Clarkson will just remove the illegal writing from the Patriot Network website. However, no illegal writing exists in a free and open society.
  4. Injunctions are to stop future illegal actions, not to punish past wrongful activities, which is the task of the criminal justice system. Clarkson will agree not to do any questionable activities in the future.
  5. Much of the case against Defendant is simple not true and rather than waste the Court time and resources, Clarkson request that the DOJ submit to discovery over records and recording that do not exist or just withdraw the charges where no proof exit whatsoever. Or, Defendant requests that the Court order the DOJ to submit proof on or withdraw the following allegations:
    1. That the Church in which Clarkson is active, The Church of the Holy Word [hereafter the Church] is a tax protest church or pseudo-church or has ever been used for tax purposes.
    2. That any taxpayer has claimed a deduction for a donation to said Church for tax purposes; or owed a debt to any tax agency and used the Church to conceal real property.
    3. That the Patriot Network is a business, a sole proprietorship or “dba”, has ever made a profit or ever been operated for a profit during the last 20 years.
    4. That Clarkson has ever had any contact with any tax shelter or organization selling or producing such.
    5. That Clarkson has ever filed in his hundreds of cases any pleading or document that a court has labeled “frivolous” or the government claimed such and was upheld by any court. Or, that in the thousands of court cases that Clarkson assisted with, any Court found any pleading or document from Clarkson that was “frivolous” or a basis for Rule 11 penalties.
    6. That an “Earnest Letter-Writing Campaign” exits or that “Clarkson charges. …$10 each for a pre-written form letter”.
    7. That Defendants ever discussed “resident aliens” or advocated such.
    8. That Defendant ever discussed or advocated “Only income earned from international or foreign commerce is taxable”.
  6. The Church of the Holy Word is a separate entity, not a “dba” of either Defendant and has not been served. Any request for an injunction would require the DOJ to name the Church is this action, etc.
  7. Clarkson assists and helps low income and middle-income Americans with IRS audits at little or no charge. Somebody needs to counsel and advise taxpayers that do not have the financial ability to hire expensive professionals to protect their interest. For this, Defendants should be praised. The IRS has been found by several Congressional committees to treat middle-income taxpayers much, much harsher than those with education and money. This Court surely knows that he, himself, would never be subjected to the same treatment as a mill worker in Greenville SC. The IRS has a special policy on tax examination of Federal Judges and powerful people.
  8. When little people stand up to the tax bullies using Clarkson’s books and videos, the workload on the IRS does increase. However, in 30 years of working on thousands of cases in tax court and Federal Court, not one single Judge has objected or found error in Clarkson’s work, except in one case with a typing error. The Bill of Rights is a tremendous burden on law enforcement. The 5th Amendment alone increases the cost of the police ten times. Who is calling for the repeal of the firs t ten Amendments to the US Constitution ??

    So what if Clarkson’s lectures, tapes and written material inform suffering taxpayers about their procedural rights and Constitutional Rights. If you do not know what your rights are, you in effect do not have them!! What about the majority of law-abiding Americans who do not attend law school or spend time in prisons. How can they learn to handle an audit?? How many tax lawyers or CPA’s will help them or help them free or even know what to tell working people.
  9. The DOJ filed a long complaint about Clarkson’s 30 years of contesting the tyranny and misdeeds of the T ax Service. However, they omitted the money, the money trail or any mention of Clarkson’s vast riches defrauding the citizens being audited. Why? They are well aware that Defendants give a vast amount of high quality tax procedure advice and help for only small contributions to cover expenses.
  10. The DOJ is particularly upset about the antics of The Great One, a genuine superhero who assist little people who are oppressive by powerful tax bureaucracies. However, the Plaintiff lists no physical disturbance or police reports from his many forays into IRS offices with victims of tax audits. The Great One does in fact make fun of the most powerful government agency in the free world. But so what? The appearances of this real superhero are an activity protected by the Bill of Rights regardless of the political embarrassment of the tax agency.
  11. The complaint in this case is a long tirade against Clarkson, full of gross exaggerations, untruthful statements and deliberate misstatements. However, in essence all these activities are political activities in varying degrees over a 30-year period.
  12. Should the Federal Court interfere with the vibrant free speech actions of an unorthodox political troublemaker, our nation moves down the slippery slope to a totalitarian society. The genus of America is when Clarkson, and yes The Great One also, can voice their objections to national policy in the matter they feel best, absent violence of course.
  13. The Court should order a pretrial conference so the parties could remove the non-provable allegations of the government and focus on the issues for the Court to decide upon. The DOJ may have a problem dealing with a pro se litigant. However, this Court can appoint counsel for Defendants. After discovery or mediation meeting, Clarkson will file an expanded responsive pleading.
  14. Note: The Patriot Network, a non-profit political association, is neither a person nor Robert Clarkson. The Network has not been served and appears specially here subject to its previously filed Special Appearance.

Certificate of Service: I do hereby certify that on this date I mailed properly a copy of this pleading to opposing counsel by regular U.S. mail.

        ___________________________          Date: 9 Dec 05
        Robert Clarkson
        515 Concord Ave
        Anderson, SC 29621