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This is your copy of the November 2006 issue of The e-Patriot Cannon newsletter, one of your Patriot Network membership benefits. To view all past issues and much other exciting, useful information, go to our website www.patriotnetwork.info and click on Patriot Cannon Archives. The pictures may not come through in the e-group. Go to said website to view this entire issue. Your newsletter is below as an in-line text, and attached. The attached copy is generally easier to read.
IN THIS EXCITING ISSUE:
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| Dr. Clarkson with Brother Larry |
Patriot of the Month: Brother Larry
Brother Larry [on right in photo] is one of the most valuable and valiant activists at work in the Patriot Network’s home area. He does computer work for Dr. Clarkson, speaks and helps at events, and above all takes on the enemy, i.e. the rotten political machine, with his bare hands in his own city and county (Toccoa, Stephens County, Georgia). The present fight referred to herein is the lawsuit that he, Dr. Clarkson, your editor, and another Georgia stalwart are waging on the bureau-rats in question. {For details, click here: Our lawsuit on N GA educrats & Stalinists —or go to our website, click on Lawsuits. The first one is Larry’s work: Suit for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress—Editor.}
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| Brave Patriots face the IRS beast in Atlanta. |
1. The Beast, supper and "a fine time"
By Scott Patriot
August 11, 2006, 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Atlanta, Georgia
Peachtree Summit Federal Building
Five brave Patriots faced off against the beast in Atlanta today, and the IRS office minions at the Peachtree Summit Federal Building in Atlanta, Georgia, felt the wrath of Dr. Clarkson’s patriot protestors.
When we arrived at 1:00pm, the federal building only had a couple of security people on hand for screening people going into their facility.
First we set up on the sidewalk in front of their building, but one security guard came out and said we could not do that on "federal property"... which, I remind the gentle reader, is publicly bought-and-paid-for property. He was polite and non-threatening.
So we set up across the street on the public sidewalk, and shortly thereafter three officers walked out and watched us from their side of the street. Then two "federal security" police cars and one "federal security" police suburban pulled up to the building with more officers.
Atlanta police cruised by several times, and one patrol car parked up the street for 15-20 minutes and watched us from behind their tinted windows.
Apparently, the sight of five graying old men put a bit of a twist in their shorts.
At 2:00 pm we went inside (without our signs) for the appointment that Patriot John had scheduled with IRS District Counsel Fitzpatrick.
We went through security, which consisted of approximately 12 security guards and an "undercover" CID officer. A few of the officers were somewhat rude and tried to intimidate us.
The security officers wouldn’t let us bring in our tape recorder for the IRS meeting, and neither would the IRS personnel.
FYI, everyone is permitted to tape recorder at any meeting with the IRS. This provision is in the IRS’ laws and regulations. 10 days' advance notice is required, which Patriot John had given.
After all of this, they only let John and one witness (Dr. Clarkson) to go up to the 14th floor to meet the IRS even though you are allowed several witnesses and a recorder.
Since no recorder was allowed, the meeting only lasted 10 minutes and the meeting was only about the recorder. It is my opinion that no one should discuss anything with the IRS without a recorder, and they didn’t.
The other two patriots and I waited in the lobby under the watchful eye of a security officer.
As all five of us walked out, I was the last out the revolving door, and I heard a threat shouted at us by one of the security guards. We ignored this, as we were all almost outside and our backs were towards them. I couldn’t tell which officer had spoken, and at any rate it doesn’t matter.
After a hard day at work, we all walked up the street for supper and had a fine time.
The Atlanta PN e-group has spiffed up its Yahoo e-group homepage with the addition of patriotic quotes and the heading from the PN homepage. This is another way all groups can draw more attention from truth seekers on the internet. Have a look at it here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PN-Atlanta/, and feel free to do likewise or similar with your PN e-group—provided, of course, it's in exact keeping with the principles and values of the main organization.
If you do not yet have a PN club, why not start one in your area, with e-group attached? It's easier than you think!
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| Brother Larry teaches a class on self representation at Clarkson’s Law Course |
Patriot of the Month Interview
by PN Intern, Kate Tolliver
Larry: I am originally from New York, but I do not like to advertise that too much around here... I like to tell people that I used to be a Yankee, but that I repented! Now I’m a full-fledged Confederate, as current events in my life will clearly show.
I share the values of independence that most Southerners hold near and dear. While I don't like everything I see here from a political perspective, at least I see hope for the South… and that is more than I can say for New York.
I moved down here about five years ago. I like to tell people that when Hillary moved in, I moved out! That is true for the most part, because I did not want her representing me. Her election to the Senate was the last straw to my decision to move out of New York.
I was delighted to learn when I got here that there was a huge freedom movement in progress, with people like Robert Clarkson leading it.
Larry: When I moved here, I was fascinated by The Truth newspaper, which I found in a building supply store. In it I saw an advertisement for the Patriot Network, after which I called Robert, who connected me to meet R.W. (famed videographer RW Moore, activist and close friend of the organization. He is the publisher of the newspaper Larry mentions, and like Larry is based in Toccoa, GA, 45 minutes from PN headquarters – Editor.) I later visited a PN club meeting, and the rest is history.
Larry: During my adult years I have always been—shall we say—freedom-minded. I am not completely sure why. Perhaps it was the early dinner-time family conversations that opened my mind to political issues. Perhaps it was the Holy Spirit’s answer to my prayers for wisdom. I have always had this uneasy sense in my soul that we are headed down a dangerous path, at the end of which we stand to lose all our treasured freedoms. This sense has been augmented by my understanding of Scripture and my personal conviction that I will live to see the "last days."
Larry: My situation is directly affected by the fact that the one-world government (which I have learned to call the New World Order) is accelerating its grab for power. It already has many of its policies, procedures, and programming deeply entrenched in our American government and society.
For the past four years, I have been learning everything I can about the freedom movement. Now I am energized by applying what I have learned.
My prayer as a younger man, (as crazy as it might sound) was to become a thorn in the side of the antichrist. I see these prayers being answered. Already I am applying everything that I have learned under Robert Clarkson on an almost-daily basis. I have learned to give my town a hard time when it ignores the principles of freedom and fails to adhere to the balance of power prescribed by law.
For too long, certain government entities in my town have gone unchallenged.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I am bragging, but not everyone can claim to have sued his local Assistant District Attorney for alleged dereliction of his duties. I am anticipating suing him again for his denial of my right to petition the Grand Jury. This is simple ignorance on his part.
This man receives $90,000+ per year in salaried pay, and yet he does not know the basics of the American system. If he’d attend Robert's classes, he’d have learned these concepts… as well as how I continue to learn in my own legal research.
I have found that the average government functionary is so ignorant of the principles of American government that opportunities for lawsuits abound.
It is just a matter of having the discernment to know when a government lackey is giving you a line.
Like we say in the patriot movement, if you don't know your rights, you don't have them!
Larry: I always knew something was wrong, but before joining the Patriot Network I could only express it as an invisible noose slowly tightening around my neck. Now I understand about the IRS, the 16th Amendment, the Federal Reserve System, the 17 enumerated powers granted to the Federal Government in the Constitution, and so much more… more than there’s room for in a single newsletter issue.
After spending four years in the Patriot Network, I have no illusions about our government anymore.
In my opinion our government is so far gone that it will take a revival and a revolution to bring it back.
So many of our people, after a stint of being un-educated in the government’s schools, have this impression that communism is somewhere on the other side of the world.
Communism is simply a state in which the government controls almost every aspect of your life.
By this standard, our America is well on its way to becoming a communist nation.
I don’t believe that our government serves the taxpayer, unless it serves them notice regarding allegedly owed or unpaid taxes. Our government only serves itself and its own interests.
That is why our American forefathers believed in limited government.
They knew of government's tendency to grow larger and more powerful, and they knew of the sinful nature of man.
Government has grown so large that it seeks to control almost every aspect of our lives; it is merely adding insult to injury that they use our own tax dollars to do it.
The National ID problem is a case in point. Our government is spending hoards of our tax dollars so that it can identify us in almost every situation, except to vote. The government's hypocrisy is so plain to see here. If your government was truly interested in solving problems, then it would do a better job in controlling the border. Instead, illegal immigrants are allowed nearly-free access to what should be reserved for our own citizens, so that they and their children can vote for the free stuff.
Licensing is another case in point. Our government spends so much of our hard-earned money to process mere applications while it does little to stop the real fraud. So many of their restrictions only apply to honest and upright citizens.
The idea that honest men need to ask our government's permission to ply their trades and to make a living is as offensive as it is tyrannical and communistic.
That is why I intend to challenge this policy, in court if necessary. You can find more about my thoughts on this subject by going to www.LeitgebIndustries.com and clicking on "Unlicensed and Free!"
Larry: There is so much need out there to fight for truth and justice. No one else seems to be doing it. It seems to me that this time in history is unique because opportunities abound to advance the freedom movement, as well as make a little money. I feel that it is so important for Christians and patriots to stop being pansies, stand up for their rights, and get out there and sue somebody! There is nothing morally wrong with standing your ground and demanding recourse under the law. Lawsuits are among the least violent means of bringing about justice. For that reason, suing the right people is a peaceful, conscionable way to effect change.
Larry: I am aware that The Patriot Network is the largest movement of its kind in the Southeast, and likely in the country.
I admire Robert's tenacity and commitment for driving the long miles to all those clubs month after month.
In Robert's classes there is a time to discuss theory. Afterward, we have ample opportunity to apply what we have learned in very up-close-and-personal, practical ways.
The resources of the Patriot Network are so vast. Robert does not stop at sharing his experience and his skill in procedure and law.
He encourages others to participate in developing their knowledge and skill in order to prepare for the days ahead so that they will be able to share their experiences with the group at large. There is so much to be learned, and so much to do.
THE IRS VIOLATES THE LAW
But is this news to any reader of the e-Patriot Cannon?
We all know that the Instant Robbery Squad is a law unto itself. A Senate Committee found that wholesale violations of the Constitutional rights of the American people had been committed by the IRS—an understatement if there ever was one.
Now the Government Accountability Office releases another scathing report on the tax collectors' violating the Paperwork Reduction Act every way they could! Click here to read this illuminating exposé.
This and so much other information will be available to you when you subscribe to the e-Patriot Cannon.
How to subscribe: you automatically get a free subscription if you are a member of the Patriot Network or the Patriot Advisory Service. Otherwise you can order a subscription to the e-Patriot Cannon, only $100 for 20 issues. Send cash or blank check/MO to: Patriot Network, PO 2368 Anderson, SC 29621. You can also remit via Paypal (see bottom of Books and Videos page in PN website).
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| U.S. Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio |
U.S. Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio agreed to plead guilty in September to corruption charges stemming from investigations of the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and even though Ney faces as much as 27 months in prison, he will still be eligible for a congressional pension (based on 12 years' "service") when he gets out. Earlier this year, Congress passed a corruption-reform bill, which Ney enthusiastically supported, which would have caused a congressman in Ney's position to forfeit his pension, but the bill has been stalled in a House-Senate conference and was not enacted before Ney's plea was accepted. [Columbus Dispatch, 9-20-06, via NewsOfTheWeird.com]
Critics said the proposed regulation could lead to a loss of privacy for clients.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600223/posts
The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns—or even entire returns—to marketers and data brokers.
The change is raising alarm among consumer and privacy-rights advocates. It was included in a set of proposed rules that the Treasury Department and the IRS published in the Dec. 8 Federal Register, where the official notice labeled them "not a significant regulatory action."
IRS officials portray the changes as housecleaning to update outmoded regulations adopted before it began accepting returns electronically. The proposed rules, which would become effective 30 days after a final version is published, would require a tax preparer to obtain written consent before selling tax information.
Critics call the changes a dangerous breach in personal and financial privacy. They say the requirement for signed consent would prove meaningless for many taxpayers, especially those hurriedly reviewing stacks of documents before a filing deadline.
"The normal interaction is that the taxpayer just signs what the tax preparer puts in front of them," said Jean Ann Fox of the Consumer Federation of America, one of several groups fighting the changes. "They think, 'This person is a tax professional, and I'm going to rely on them.' "
Criticism also came from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.). In a letter last Tuesday to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Obama warned that once in the hands of third parties, tax information could be resold and handled under even looser rules than the IRS sets, increasing consumers' vulnerability to identity theft and other risks.
"There is no more sensitive information than a taxpayer's return, and the IRS's proposal to allow these returns to be sold to third-party marketers and database brokers is deeply troubling," Obama wrote.
The IRS first announced the proposal in a news release the day before the official notice was published, headlined: "IRS Issues Proposed Regulations to Safeguard Taxpayer Information."
The announcement did not mention potential sales of tax information. It said the proposed rules were guided by the principle "that tax return preparers may not disclose or use tax return information for purposes other than tax return preparation without the knowing, informed and voluntary consent of the taxpayer."
IRS spokesman William M. Cressman defended the proposal in similar terms.
"The heart of this proposed regulation is about the right of taxpayers to control their tax return information. The idea is to emphasize taxpayer consent and set clear boundaries on how tax return preparers can use or disclose tax return information," Cressman said in an e-mail response to questions.
Cressman said he was unable to explain "why this issue has come up at this time other than our effort to update regulations that date back to the 1970s and predate the electronic era."
Not all the changes have drawn opposition.
Beth A. McConnell, director of the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG), said she welcomed a requirement that a taxpayer would need to consent to overseas processing of any portion of a tax return.
"That's a positive development, but I don't think it's worth giving up our tax returns' privacy for," said McConnell, who plans to testify on behalf of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group at an April 4 IRS hearing in Washington on the rule changes.
McConnell accused the IRS of using the new limit on overseas processing to dress up changes that would chiefly benefit tax preparers, marketers and data brokers.
"That's a disturbing trend among Washington officials lately," McConnell said. "They'll offer a modest consumer protection in one area in exchange for dramatic weakening of consumer protections in another area, and then try to convince the public that it's all in our interests."
Critics of the proposal said it could do more than open up sales of tax information to data brokers and marketers, because it could undermine taxpayer confidence in the entire tax system.
"Privacy protections for tax information are especially critical given the largely voluntary nature of the U.S. tax system," said Chi Chi Wu, a tax-law specialist at Boston's National Consumer Law Center.
Wu and other critics said they were uncertain who or what was behind the proposed changes in IRS privacy rules, which currently prohibit tax preparers from selling returns to third parties for marketing purposes, and require written consent if they want to use it for marketing by companies under their own corporate umbrella.
Officials at H&R Block and Jackson-Hewitt, two of the nation's largest tax-preparation firms, did not respond to requests for comment. Cressman said the IRS had so far received only about a dozen comments on the proposal.
"I think this just flew under the radar screen for so many people," McConnell said.
ONLINE EXTRA: Read the IRS's proposed new rule via: http://go.philly.com/IRS21.
6. I.R.S. Enlists Help in Collecting Delinquent Taxes
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/business/20tax.html?th&emc=th
Published: August 20, 2006
If you owe back taxes to the federal government, the next call asking you to pay may come not from an Internal Revenue Service officer, but from a private debt collector.
Within two weeks, the I.R.S. will turn over data on 12,500 taxpayers—each of whom owes $25,000 or less in back taxes—to three collection agencies. Larger debtors will continue to be pursued by I.R.S. officers.
The move, an initiative of the Bush administration, represents the first step in a broader plan to outsource the collection of smaller tax debts to private companies over time. Although I.R.S. officials acknowledge that this will be much more expensive than doing it internally, they say that Congress has forced their hand by refusing to let them hire more revenue officers, who could pull in a lot of easy-to-collect money.
The private debt collection program is expected to bring in $1.4 billion over 10 years, with the collection agencies keeping about $330 million of that, or 22 to 24 cents on the dollar.
By hiring more revenue officers, the I.R.S. could collect more than $9 billion each year and spend only $296 million — or about three cents on the dollar — to do so, Charles O. Rossotti, the computer systems entrepreneur who was commissioner from 1997 to 2002, told Congress four years ago.
I.R.S. officials on Friday characterized those figures as correct, but said that the plan Mr. Rossotti had proposed had been forestalled by Congress, which declined to authorize it to hire more revenue officers.
Critics of the privatization plan point not only to the higher cost but also to what they say is a greater potential for abuse. With private companies in the mix, they say, debtors could more easily be tricked into paying money to scam artists using spoof Web sites or other schemes, a problem the I.R.S. alerted taxpayers to in April. Brady R. Bennett, collections director for the I.R.S., said that by 2008, about 350,000 past-due tax records will be distributed among about 10 private debt-collection agencies. To guard against fraud, he said, the agencies will contact taxpayers only by telephone or mail — not the Internet — and will instruct them to send all payments directly to the United States Treasury, not the private collection agency.
One of the three companies selected by the I.R.S. is a law firm in Austin, Tex., where a former partner, Juan Peña, admitted in 2002 that he paid bribes to win a collection contract from the city of San Antonio. He went to jail for the crime.
Last month the same law firm, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, was again in the news. One of its competitors, Municipal Services Bureau, also of Austin, sued Brownsville, Tex., charging that the city improperly gave the Linebarger firm a collections contract that it suggested was influenced by campaign contributions to two city commissioners.
Joe Householder, a spokesman for Linebarger, which specializes in delinquent tax collections, said it had resolved the issues raised by the Peña case in 2002 and that it believed it had acted properly in Brownsville. The mayor of Brownsville, Eddie Treviño Jr., said that the contract vote had been unanimous and scoffed at the accusations of misconduct.
The two other companies that have won debt collection contracts from the I.R.S. are Pioneer Credit Recovery of Arcade, N.Y., a division of the SLM Corporation, and the CBE Group of Waterloo, Iowa.
The main objection so far to the privatization program is that it is more expensive than internal collection. "I freely admit it," Mark W. Everson, the tax commissioner, told a House of Representatives committee in March.
Privatizing government services is often promoted as a way to cut costs. But the government would probably net $1.1 billion from private debt collectors over 10 years, compared with the $87 billion that could be reaped if the agency hired more revenue officers, as Mr. Rossotti had recommended.
Taxpayer rights are at risk with privatization, Nina B. Olson, the I.R.S. taxpayer advocate, warned Congress earlier this year. "Because private collectors will operate under rules of profit maximization rather than the I.R.S.’s customer-service based policy," she warned, the private collectors may have less incentive to safeguard taxpayer rights.
Al Cleland, a retired I.R.S. tax collector in Minnesota, predicted that using private collectors would cause some debtors to owe more.
"We always told people to get current on their taxes first, so they would not have more penalties added, and then work on paying off their back taxes," Mr. Cleland said. "A private collection agency has no incentive to tell taxpayers that, so people will pay more penalties."
Mr. Bennett of the I.R.S. said that such advice was correct, but that it applied primarily to small business owners, whose cases will not be sent to the private agencies.
Under federal budget rules, money spent to hire tax collectors is treated as a discretionary expense, and Congress is cutting discretionary spending. In business terms, the rules treat the I.R.S. as a cost center, not as the government’s profit center.
The private debt-collection program, however, is outside the budget rules because, except for the start-up costs, the collectors are to be paid from the proceeds.
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| Ludwig von Mises |
7. Thanksgiving: A Special Word for Our People
Commentary by the e-PC Editor
It's that wonderful time again—that awesome, slightly scary time when weather turns grim, the "holiday seizure" begins with Christmas decorations placed everywhere, and the extra-special day for giving thanks draws nigh. And in my humble opinion it's a great time to remember that past American pioneers and patriots of old have traditionally taken the day as an occasion for thanking their Creator for his innumerable blessings.
Most people today don't of course, care about history, their rights, or the ultimate source of the material blessings they enjoy. Millions upon millions look at Thanksgiving Day as a special time all right—to overeat and over drink, chattering about nothing the whole while, and then fall into "couch potato" mode to watch The Game for three hours.
Are they missing something? In my humble estimation, they are—the basic meaning of life.
Speaking of missing, however, it appears that even many earnest, conservative folk miss the full picture of that first Thanksgiving. Schools today teach kids that the pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving because they "were thankful" and leave it at that, warping history and toeing the "politically correct" line. And we in this organization know that's not even half the story. But guess what? Even this chapter of American history is rich with meaning relative to today's struggle for basic freedoms and stark socio-economic truth!
In starting to "Google" the history of this holiday, I couldn't remember whether the first Thanksgiving had anything to do with the Massachusetts Bay Colony's failed experiment in socialism or not, so I simply searched thanksgiving pilgrims socialism. The first link that came up was—surprise!—for a so-so article entitled Thanksgiving, Pilgrims and American Socialism. But beyond that lay a real catch: a short but extremely pithy account of this period courtesy of the legendary free-market think tank, The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Yes—the socialistic experiment was the backdrop for the drama. Yes—Thanksgiving Day was pivotal—but only because in reality it was the lowest point in the colonists' lives so far! And really, the story is so exciting, so shocking, so redolent of Patriot Network principles and goals, it's useless to try to summarize or describe it further. Here it is—The Great Thanksgiving Hoax, by a former editor of Moneyworld. Read—enjoy—and give thanks to God that we still enjoy the freedom and prosperity to share such materials!
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| Richard Maybury |
http://www.mises.org/story/336
Each year at this time school children all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.
It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving's real meaning.
The official story has the pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America and establishing the Plymouth colony in the winter of 1620-21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The Pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.
The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after, each year repeating the first Thanksgiving. Other early colonies also have hard times at first, but they soon prosper and adopt the annual tradition of giving thanks for this prosperous new land called America.
The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.
In his 'History of Plymouth Plantation,' the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years, because they refused to work in the fields. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."
In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, "all had their hungry bellies filled," but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first "Thanksgiving" was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.
But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, "instead of famine now God gave them plenty," Bradford wrote, "and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God." Thereafter, he wrote, "any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day." In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.
What happened?
After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, "they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop." They began to question their form of economic organization.
This had required that "all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means" were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock." A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed.
This "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that "young men that are most able and fit for labor and service" complained about being forced to "spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children." Also, "the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak." So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.
To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of famines.
Many early groups of colonists set up socialist states, all with the same terrible results. At Jamestown, established in 1607, out of every shipload of settlers that arrived, less than half would survive their first twelve months in America. Most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites. In the winter of 1609-10, called "The Starving Time," the population fell from five-hundred to sixty.
Then the Jamestown colony was converted to a free market, and the results were every bit as dramatic as those at Plymouth. In 1614, Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch there was "plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure." He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, "we reaped not so much corn from the labors of thirty men as three men have done for themselves now."
Before these free markets were established, the colonists had nothing for which to be thankful. They were in the same situation as Ethiopians are today, and for the same reasons. But after free markets were established, the resulting abundance was so dramatic that the annual Thanksgiving celebrations became common throughout the colonies, and in 1863, Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
Thus the real reason for Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.
* * * * *
This article originally appeared in The Free Market, November 1985.
Patriot Cannon Is Now Digital!
The Patriot Cannon, the monthly newsletter of the Patriot Network, has been converted to an electronic format. The new Patriot Network newsletter, The e-Patriot Cannon, is now totally electronic and is only distributed via e-mail. The membership newsletter is now an e-zine.
The mailing list for the ePC is now an e-group by Yahoo entitled Patriot Network e-group [PN]. You should receive our new e-zine occasionally at your email address. If you receive this issue via the PN-egroup, that means you are in the Yahoo e-group for members. If you receive this e-zine directly from Clarkson, that means you are not subscribed to the membership e-group. If you do not receive this e-zine on a regular basis, that means you are not subscribed to the e-group. To subscribe, ask the PN to send you the invitation.
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Disclaimer: "Robert B. Clarkson is not a lawyer. He is not licensed to practice law in South Carolina or in any other state or jurisdiction." ______________________________________________________________________________________
CONTACT INFORMATION
new email address: robert@patriotnetwork.info. phone number: 864-225-3061.
address: POB 2368, Anderson SC 29621. new website: www.PatriotNetwork.info
FREEDOM is not Free!
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