Replace All Federal Taxes on Income with the Fair Tax Act , HR 25
Interesting...from Zap Theirs
Zappers!
A new study has just come out by a social scientist explaining how victory over a much stronger opponent (in our case, the Income Tax) can be achieved!
In a study of every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants, writes Malcolm Gladwell in the current New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell), when the weaker force uses unconventional tactics, they win almost two-thirds of the time! This is what Lawrence of Arabia did with his ragtag force of Bedouin fighters to overthrow the Turkish Empire in Arabia!
A new study has just come out by a social scientist explaining how victory over a much stronger opponent (in our case, the Income Tax) can be achieved!
In a study of every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants, writes Malcolm Gladwell in the current New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell), when the weaker force uses unconventional tactics, they win almost two-thirds of the time! This is what Lawrence of Arabia did with his ragtag force of Bedouin fighters to overthrow the Turkish Empire in Arabia!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Girty on
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This is a good article, thank you for sharing it.
While the author is mainly interested in comparing military conflict to sports, your extenstion of his ideas to political campaigns is perfect. We must understand and develope tactics based upon the doctrine of Assymetrical Politics. There is much similarity to Assymetrical Warfare, which we can learn from.
In a nutshell, when your enemy has vastly superior strength you can rarely win in a direct confrontation. You must instead find ways to exploit your enemy's weakness to your advantage. As you say, it is vital to develope unconventional tactics. This requires people to "think outside the box." However, it does not require everyone to think the same. While I may think the best hope defeat this aweful monster is the Libertarian Party, others might choose to work from within the existing political parties. This does not make enemies of us, but it can confuse the heck out of our opponents, which is good for us.
The main difference I see with the sports metafor and or political situation is the element of time. A basketball game will be over the same day it began, we must be prepare to endure this battle for a lot longer. As long as we understand that and have patience then we can endure. It takes a long time to change the status quo.
There is a story about a prisoner being questioned by a military leader that illustrates this point. The interogator was trying to convince the prisoner that his cause was hopeless because he was fighting a much larger army with the best equipment money could by, while the prisoner had practically nothing to fight with. The prisoner simply said: "You people have all the watches, but we have all the time."
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Permalink Reply by Nancy L. Gatchel on
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You're right about confusing them. We come from all political persuasions, and the media, the pundits, and the politicians, can't believe it. Yet.
I like your story about the prisoner being the one with the time. One potentially frightful thing that I heard from an economist this morning, someone I find credible and not on cable news: He estimates that we have 2 to 5 yrs. until the economy goes bust, on our country's present course. Sounds horribly gloomy, however, in 1994 he predicted the mess we find ourselves in now, in a book he wrote. Inspires me to work harder for the Fair Tax.
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I read the article and came away with a different perspective. If you're going to battle the establishment, you're going to have to use unconventional methods.
That was done back in the '60s. They didn't bother to write to their Congressman or try to buy media time or have rallies. They used all forms of civil disobedience. The more radical went overboard, but the mainstream demonstrators went with rallies at places that caught attention. They also went with acts that caught attention. After that, their issues became more of a priority, instead of being viewed as some college prank. Those demonstrations brought down the establishment in the 1968.
Ross Perot also went outside the rules of the establishment by taking his issue to the people via buying large blocks of time and using lots of visual aids. He also was able to bring in lots of volunteers and caught a huge political wave. That brought down the establishment in 1992, and probably helped in the Republicans winning control of the Congress in 1994.
Where does that put the Fair Taxers? I wonder what it would be like to have a demonstration in front of an IRS building or burn some W-2 forms. We could have people stop paying taxes. There are many unconventional methods to take. Or we can buy large blocks of air time, if we had deep enough of pockets.
Or we could hold rallies and write letters and get little to no media attention. The same time that tea parties and rallies were held, there were 2 buses of people that went to CEO homes and demonstrated. They had the lead off story on ABC news that evening. Ask the man in the street how they feel about CEO pay and bonuses and they probably have an opinion. Ask them about the Fair Tax and they probably haven't heard of it.
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I agree it will take unconventional tactics to change the political landscape, but what we need to learn is what kind of tactics. Demonstrations for non leftist causes will get little media, as you point out. But demonstrations can be a good way to attract and encourage like minded people to join the cause. They have their place.
I am of the opinion that unconventional tactics are most effective when they are part of the election process. Third Party, Independent candidates and outsider candidates in the primary process can use unconventional election tactics to hurt the big 2 parties. While Ron Paul was not successful in winning the GOP nomination, his supporters used unconventional tactics to fuel his run far beyond anyones expectations. Libertarian candidates have captured enough votes to swing some elections. It takes time, but what is the alternative?
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Permalink Reply by Nancy L. Gatchel on
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I have to agree with you at this point in time. It's most important to get like minded together, regardless of party affiliation. I believe our peaceful demonstrations are the ideal place to bring us together, and we'll continue to grow. The very first thing we must do is get the Fair Tax enacted. That is one huge, and attainable, goal.
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Permalink Reply by micheleking on
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David vs. Goliath: FairTax between the eyes. On facts all others hurt.
On the issue of encouraging folks "NOT TO PAY TAXES:" We own the watches and THEY HAVE ALL THE TIME!!!
I hope y'all will not do this. People will loose everything and then some. I was working at IRS when the Clintons were in power. I SAW the list of who's who getting an audit this time 'round. Every single one of them (1,000's & 1,000's) had shamed the Clintons or were out and out enemies. These folks were GUILTY until proven innocent. One local business man spent $200,000+ to fight just based on principle.
We on this forum are probably suspect. Do not be surprized.
I do agree that we should do radical things, but suicide/shooting my foot is not one of them.
Most folks do not understand IRS, their own paystub, etc. It really does not take long to show someone (especially the young) how to fill out their own tax form. Mostly it is fear.
Where we are weak is getting the tea folks on our side. FairTaxers infiltrating the crowds and providing a clear solution is working. Just not fast enuff for me.
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