Smart Voter
State of California June 2, 1998 Primary

Freedom

By Eduardo M. Rivera

Candidate for Governor

This information is provided by the candidate
Freedom is our greatest asset. It is the source of respect for mankind. It is the backbone of America and addresses all pertinent issues.
A few changes in our government would address the issues of crime, poverty, peoples rights, gun control, education, health, and enviroment, as well as many others. As a matter of fact, if we as a nation would just adhere to the origional Constitution and its amendments, we would see a big difference in our society. The Constitution sought to fulfill the promises of the Declaration Of Independence of 1776, which expressed peoples' yearning to be free from the crimes and power of government, and to develop the talents given them by their creator. The Constitution provided checks and balances that keep the power of government within the boundaries set by law. Our government today has gone beyond the boundaries that were established by our founders. Instead of looking at what is wrong or right, let's look at what works and doesn't work.


People learn most of their lessons in life as young children. The thing that happens to young children is that they are sent off to school where the public education system stiffles their God given talents and frustrates them by forcing them to learn answers of things they are not interested in. Because our public school system does not respect the rights of the children to be free, children grow up resentful and bitter. In order to memorize and give correct answers, children must sit for hours at a time in a controlled enviroment and to be subjected to the taunting of their peers. If children are not respected, they will not respect. If we respect their rights and allow them to learn to read by reading what they are interested in, or learn how to build if they want to build, or learn how to draw if that is their interest, they will learn how to respect others.


Following is a quote by Alexander Hamilton 1775: "The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."


The quote goes for children as well as adults. If we replace the sacred rights of children with books, lessons, and orders, they will miss the sun beam of human nature and divinity. In watching children in under developed societies, we see them being happy and care free. We do not see the crime that we face in our nation today. The most important thing to teach children is to value the rights of one another as well as Mother Earth who gives us life. Neither our schools or society teach that. Our government with it's social security system, its tracking number, and the income tax system all teach the opposite of human rights. Mankind has had to deal with poverty since the beginning of time. It is called survival. The thing that is not natural to mankind is the loss of freedom to a super power that tries to fix things by taking away individual rights.


The income tax system is another area that must be addressed to have a balanced government that works well. Tax was originally designed to not only provide for the protection of the United States, but also to keep possible harm from the people. An excise tax was put on anything that had the potential to do harm. That included alcohol and tobacco, weapons and fishing equipment, as well as many others. The Internal Revenue Code lists all of the items subject to the excise tax. Our wages from work were never taxed. That was part of our right to life and liberty. The Constitution protected us against that type of taxation by stating that direct taxes, such as what would be on your wages, must be apportioned. The 16th Amendment did not change that. The reason that it states income tax needs not be apportioned is because it is speaking as though the income tax is an excise (indirect) tax on activities. However, since the word "income tax" was used, people assumed that it was talking about the wages we earn. Many people have been bullied by the government to pay huge amounts of money that they do not owe. This does not work well because when the government bullies people, people begin to bully other people. In order to bring our country back into balance, we must stop this cycle. It suppresses the charitable organizations by causing people to falsely believe that they are well cared for by the government programs. It allows the government to track people to extort money from them. It leads our children through its education process down a road of crime. It just doesn't work.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 24, 1998 13:22
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