Happy Constitution Day America!
This holiday came about in 2004 via a typical Congressional maneuver. An amendment creating the commemoration day was added by the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) to a wide-ranging spending bill.
The date, Sept. 17, was selected for annual recognition because it was on that day in 1787 that the Constitutional Convention signed the document.
Click the Constitution image (or here) to read a transcript.
After the signing, continued fights: In today's politically charged atmosphere, Constitution Day has become another area of partisan contention.
The biggest boosters of Constitution Day are Tea Party members. Others say the holiday is illegal, violating key tents of the United States' sacred governing document.
And it's no secret that a lot of people have issues with many of the Constitutional amendments, including the 16th amendment. You know, the one that OK'ed the income tax by declaring:
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
I suspect that as soon as that amendment was ratified on Feb. 3, 1913, anti-taxers hit the streets trying to have it stricken. Heck, the repeal effort probably was just an extension of the battle to keep the income tax from becoming law.
But the tax survived, then and now.
Don't fall for frivolous tax arguments: The false and frivolous claims of tax protesters, given continual new life thanks to the Internet, continue to pop up and attract attention.
We hear from folks, including some who've won elective offices, who contend that the 16th amendment was never properly approved and that the U.S. government has no right to collect taxes on our wages and other income.
These people continue to fight the law. But they are crazy based on the definition that lunacy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The results when it comes to tax protest arguments are always the same. They keep failing.
Court decision after court decision, some rulings by judges and others the findings of juries, affirm the income tax's legality.
So instead of flailing against the laws of the land, all patriotic Americans should support the Constitution and celebrate all of it.
And if anyone has an issue with any of its provisions, they need to use their right to change the system by participating in it through legal avenues, not by breaking the country's laws, tax and otherwise.
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