An Open Letter to Chuck Norris

Glenn Jacobs [send him mail] is the actor and wrestler Kane. Visit his blog.

Copyright © 2009 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

Dear Chuck,

Like so many others, I have a great deal of respect for what you have accomplished in your life. You are the epitome of the American Dream; rising from a troubled childhood to the heights of international celebrity. While you and I may not agree on many political issues, I believe that you are sincere in your concern for the future of the American republic.

However, I think you miss the mark with your support of the Fair Tax. Yes, the current federal income tax system is immoral, invasive, and represents a form of slavery (resting on the premise that individuals are not entitled to the fruit of their labor), but eliminating one tax and replacing it with another is never a good idea.

Besides, we have bigger fish to fry. While taxes are certainly an important issue, it is not the taxes we see that are our greatest worry at this point. The tax we should be concerned about is the one that we don’t see.

As long as the Federal Reserve System retains the monopoly power to issue currency, it really doesn’t matter what the tax system is. Theoretically, the Fed can print all the money the government needs and we will be taxed through the loss of purchasing power of the dollar. This is going to become more and more evident as the federal government grows to unprecedented proportions. The crisis that we are witnessing now pales when compared to the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare. The only way for the government to deal with them is to inflate the debt away.

The Fed is an unconstitutional institution. According to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is empowered to "coin money and regulate the value thereof." In 1913, Congress delegated that authority to the Fed. This action in itself is questionable as it would seem that a constitutional amendment would be required for Congress to delegate authority with which it is specifically vested.

The issue, however, is even bigger than that. It is no accident that these powers were included in a clause which grants Congress the authority to "fix the standard of weights and measures." That is because the dollar itself is not money; it is a measure of money. Money, according to the Framers, was gold and silver. Congress is simply empowered to standardize the dollar as a measure of precious metal – traditionally, 1/20 of an ounce of gold.

In other words, the Constitution does not grant Congress the power to create money or to regulate the value of the dollar by manipulating the money supply. The power which the Fed claims to posses under congressional mandate – the power to create money – never existed in the first place.

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