The power of the US federal government

I'm sure that you are aware that the US federal government's rise to power during this last century is rooted any much more than taxation. The other half of the fiscal equation is benefits, subsidies, grants, entitlements, etc. It is only the taxation which hurts most directly, and is therefore most noticed. In addition to revenue collection (taxation) and spending (benefits), the government has successfully claimed the powers of nationalization, regulation, and education.

Nationalization is the "legal" theft of real estate by the government; theft because despite the compensation (money) offered, the transfer of wealth (property, in this case) is coerced.

Regulation involves the issuance of certifications, permits, and standards for environmental waste.

Education consists of the governments control over all public academian establishments, being a virtual monopoly in the elementary and high school levels.

A few other major elements of federal power (beyond taxation, which wasn't mentioned here yet) include the IRS, extensive tax code, and invasion of privacy, and the differential, unfair, and manipulative treatment of citizens by classes and groups. Taxation includes all import and export taxes, tariffs, investment taxes, death taxes, gift taxes, leasing fees, permit fees, income taxes, corporate taxes, property confiscations, quid pro quo "donations," and the power to levy bonds (debt).

Every power listed thus far may be justified by hundreds of "good intentions," but in the end only one general observation holds true for all of them: These powers have all been grossly abused because they all violate the fundamental principle of blind equality, which is freedom. Blind equality says that it is immoral for government to hold different standards to different people; without consideration, or even collection, of any unique, personal attribute, government must create an impartial law and enforce it impartially. Impartiality is the anti-thesis of factional politics and the basis of fairness. The FairTax, a revenue-based approach to establishing and implementing impartiality, and thus freedom for the people, in government, holds great potential, despite its intrusions upon the privacy of the American family in its implementation of the prebate provision, an flat credit adjusting for the expected taxes paid at the poverty line.