Manly Sullivan's Big Mistake

in #politics7 years ago (edited)

       Manly Sullivan was a bootlegger during prohibition, if he filed an income tax return and admitted ill gotten gains he would place himself in jeopardy. So he didn't, was caught and convicted for failure to file. Manly, however, pleaded "the Fifth," and his sentence was reversed on the grounds that "the protection against self-incrimination afforded by the Fifth Amendment furnished him with a complete defense."        

       Here are three additional reasons why the Fourth Circuit granted Manly his freedom. "Requiring Sullivan to file a tax return would be in conflict with the Fifth Amendment.""No one can be compelled in any proceedings to make disclosures or give evidence which would tend to incriminate." "There can be no question that one who files a return under oath is a witness within the meaning of the Amendment."     

       At that moment Manly Sullivan had rescued America from income tax hell. However, there was and is far too much corruption at stake for our government to meekly accept the Fourth Circuit's ruling. Therefore, one branch appealed to another branch and Oliver Wendell Holmes, himself, threw Manly into jail. Here is how the Supreme Court abetted income tax, but first, a bit of law is required to understand how our Highest Court dealt this slight of hand.     

       The Fifth Amendment states “No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” (Whether or not testimony is incriminating.) However, the State is entitled to a person's testimony, he or she can be subpoenaed and perhaps become a witness against self in another person's trial. In this circumstance our law divides testimony into two distinct categories; testimony that may tend to incriminate and testimony that doesn't. A subpoenaed party may answer any question, but, if felt threaten, can "Take the Fifth," which is legally defined as a privilege and "respectfully decline to answer on the ground that the answer may tend to incriminate me."     

       It is imperative (in fact, your freedom depends upon this) to realize that your Fifth Amendment right, not to be a witness against oneself and the privilege to "Take the Fifth" are fundamentally distinct legal concepts. Manly Sullivan's big mistake was to "Take the Fifth," a legal privilege, instead of insisting on every citizen's constitutional right "not to be a witness against oneself." This allowed the Supreme Court to rule, "If the form of return called for answers that the defendant was privileged from making he could have raised the objection in the return, but could not, on that account, refuse to make any return at all."     

       Sullivan v. U.S. [274 U.S. 259] is the landmark case concerning income tax and the Fifth Amendment. However, it has nothing to do with your Fifth Amendment right (big red flag). The Court only ruled that if Manly, for whatever reason, wished to base his defense on the privilege of "Taking the Fifth" he first had to file. 

       America's confusion on the fundamental distinction between a right and a privilege has enabled federal courts to simply declare that Sullivan v. U.S. requires that everyone must file an income tax return. It took only one federal judge to misinterpret or misrepresent the law. Using his proceeding as stare decisis, or case law precedent, other federal courts simply point and declare... if it was good enough for them, it is good enough for us. And that is how our Constitution has been subverted, how innocent citizens are thrown in jail and how tyranny rapes and rules our land.     

       It is time to throw off the yoke. No longer will we be oppressed by deception foisted upon us nearly a century ago. By simply obeying the law we can peacefully, legally, refuse to sustain the massively corrupt, out of control corporate/police state that is maliciously oppressing our lives, our liberty and our pursuit of happiness. We need only inform ourselves, as we are legion, duty calls and either justice reigns or tyranny torments.  https://steemit.com/anarchy/@twelfthman/the-end-of-income-tax