"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us." This stirring quote from JFK's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech from 1963 has largely been forgotten, but we would do well to remember it's message as the current administration continues it's ongoing assault on America's traditional values of self reliance, opportunity and success.

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Follow up:

In this speech JFK was referring to the failure of the principles and actions of the communist system where despite familiar promises of utopia, the communist citizenry needed to be physically imprisoned behind the Berlin wall to prevent defection. In 2010, we have many different kinds of walls, not just those of concrete and brick eg "firewalls" to prevent outside intrusion and protect our computer secrecy and emotional walls, like politically manufactured victimization, that prevent people from taking personal responsibility for their action. The particular wall at issue here is a financial one. A government created barrier that impedes an individual's ability to enjoy, and keep legally obtained personal property regardless of one's chosen place of domicile. (You may not know that the United States is the only industrialized country to tax citizens on income earned abroad, even when they are taxed in their country of residence.)

I venture to say for many people June 17, 2008 was probably an unremarkable and to this day, a vast majority of Americans are wholly unaware of what happened. On that day the United States, alleged world leader and champion of democracy, joined a notorious rogues gallery of nations already populated with the likes of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and apartheid-era South Africa. Throughout history despised regimes like these have have been defined by their unwillingness to allow their people to leave the country and renounce their citizenship freely and now the United States has too. By imposing punitive legislation that can simply be described as a confiscatory "Exit Tax", the US has essentially built an economic wall imprisoning her citizenry by imposing financial penalties of the highest order on anyone wishing to leave. As a nation we are diminished by this action and the company we keep and we dishonor JFK and our founding principles in doing so.

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A huge exit tax penalty, for those making the already soul wrenching decision to give up their US citizenship to protect their wealth from excessive taxation, has been on the radar screen of radical Democrats for decades. knowing it would have no chance of passing if fully debated in an open and transparent fashion, the smarmy ethics challenged Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) pulled a classic backroom slight of hand by burying the provision in the benignly named Heros Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 an explanation of which can be found here H.R. 6081*. Gambling that George Bush would be unwilling to bear the stigma and political fallout of not approving legislation providing tax benefits and incentives for military personnel in an election year, Rangel and the Democrats essentially blackmailed the previous administration into agreeing to this punitive protectionist play. It is interesting to note that congress is able to move with lightning speed when they are trying to pull the wool over the voters eyes. This bill was introduced and passed by both the house and senate in only 7 days - so much for debate! Bush has no choice but to throw successful, monied expatriots under the bus lest he be viewed as unsupportive of our troops.

Greedy career politicians, hungry for re-election, have enthusiastically fueled the populist attack on "bad" people who dare to be rich. Those with their hands out and an abiding addiction to OPM (other people's money) will surely applaud this move, but any hard working, freedom loving American traditionalist will see it for what it always has been and is now. An act of total domination by an out of control government hellbent on extracting the last piece of flesh from any citizen (and long term resident's too) with the audacity to express their free will by leaving an unjust and inept political system.

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A lengthy discussion of the entire law is beyond the scope of this blog posting but a few highlights of the measure include:

• Citizens are permitted to renounce their us citizenship and Expatriate by formal application.
• The total value of the citizens financial assets including all cash, real estate, 401k, pension plans etc. is determined.
• A "legal fiction" is created as of the day prior to renuniation that pretends you actually sold or liquidated all of these assets subjecting the expat to all withholding and capital gains taxes even though none of them are actually being sold.
• The expat is obligated to pay this sum of money to the US government immediately upon expatriation or leave sufficient investments behind as collateral to cover the tax obligation.
• Imposes a separate tax on gifts and bequests from expatriates exceeding $10,000, payable by the recipient of such gift or bequest.
• Of course in renouncing your citizenship you also give up claims for any accrued social security benefits, medicare, medicaid and future health care "reform" benefits. You are further giving up your right to travel to and from the US as well as the right to reside in the US.

Renouncing one's citizenship in the US is considered a truly "nuclear option" but one being exercised by an increasing number of dissatisfied Americans says the New York Times. According to financial advisor David Tanzer "...In the past century, more people fled from Europe and Latin American countries to the U.S. to better their financial lot and avoid burdensome taxes back home than for any other reason, including religious or political freedom. Flight is a natural response to governments that mismanage internal affairs." Tanzer has done an excellent job of explaining the new legislation and why this policy is bad for all Americans including those staying behind. If you really want to understand the issue this page from his website at DavidTanzer.com is worth reading.

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Why is it that if a thief entered your home and forcibly removed your personal property,you could shoot them and he would face arrest and jail time - but the federal government can confiscate an ever growing percentage of your property while remaining blissfully bullet proof? The answer is that we the taxpayers have allowed them to. Either due to naiveté, apathy or an abiding trust that our elected officials were working in our, not their own, best interests, we have not been actively engaged in the political process. While we have been busy working hard to advance ourselves and accumulate what wealth we are allowed to keep, those with taxpayer funded idle time and hands out have been plotting in tandam with co-conspirators desirous of spreading the wealth to usurp this once proud country, our wealth and our liberties.

Admittedly, this debacle took place during the Bush years but the current President has whipped up the class warfare rhetoric to unprecedented levels with attacks on banks, big business, "the rich" while giving little more than lip service to the importance of small business, principles of liberty and our Constitution. The Democratic party has strayed so far from it's roots, it is virtually unrecognizable when compared to the golden era of John F. Kennedy and Camelot. Rather than the unifying words of the past "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" we see our leadership encouraging the citizenry to look to government for everything expecting only subservience in return which smacks of slavery to me. President Obama is clearly no JFK and in fact, he dishonors his memory with almost every antithetical and divisive policy decision he makes.

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I am no longer willing to sit by idly while the fruits of my ancestors, spouse and my labors are stolen to fund the aggrandizement of career politicians. I vow to do any and everything I can to stem the current political tide by educating myself, donating to and campaigning for candidates willing to take the sometimes unpopular positions, and become fully engaged in the election process this fall by voting and compelling others to do so. If however after election results are tallied, I do not see that enough of us have the intelligence, stomache or interest in turning around this downhill runaway train of a country, I am also willing to make the difficult choice to leave.

Are You With Me?

*More info on the Heros Bill H.R. 6081 is here