by Marcus Page and Mike Butler
On April 14 and 15 six people with Trinity Nuclear Abolitionists
(TNA) went to vigil, pray, and distribute leaflets at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as part of NWTRCC's 2008 War
Tax Boycott. TNA organizes monthly demonstrations at the laboratory,
and the April vigil was planned to last 24 hours. Los Alamos
was chosen because it is a key location in the field of nuclearism,
being the birthplace of the bomb. It is a key actor in the proliferation
of global nuclear violence.
Trinity Nuclear Abolitionists had three purposes for this action:
- To prayerfully encourage the nonviolent, safe, clean disarmament
of weapons of mass destruction, along with the clean-up of
LANL.
- To visibly celebrate the War Tax Boycott organized by NWTRCC.
- To keep watch over the Laboratory through a 24-hour cycle,
as part of the citizen inspections of international crime
scenes.
At 9:33 pm on April 14, the two of us, Marcus Page and Mike
Butler, were arrested for trespassing because we refused to
change our location. TNA always tells lab security how many
hours the demonstration will last, and they have not stopped
our prayer-actions since last August. This was the first time
TNA had arranged for an all-nighter. Armed with a meditation
bell, interfaith prayers, and clean drinking water, we were
ready to sing, pray, and dance for peace across the street from
the Laboratory all night. We were in an area that was safe and
well-lit, and most likely belonging to the county of Los Alamos,
rather than Los Alamos National Laboratory.
When four professional men arrived to talk with us, starting
around 8:55 pm, we welcomed their input and suggestions. They
didn't share our view of simplicity, they didn't accept our
invitation to pray with us, and they didn't make any gestures
to stop the international crimes across the street. Instead
they called in the police to interrupt our prayer-action.
Rather than arresting the four professional men for protecting
the international criminal actions of LANL, two local police
officers upheld the viewpoints of the four other men. Two men
claimed to represent LANL, and one man represented a private
company LANS-the management company for LANL. Negotiations led
to clarity for the four men-Mr. Killeen, Mr. Holsapple, Fireman
Pacheco, and Mr. Mick. We ended the important conversation in
a clear disagreement over their claims to authority and continued
the vigil in a jail cell throughout the night. Other TNA volunteers
resumed the outdoor vigil on LANL property during the next morning.
We were arraigned and pleaded "not guilty." After two nights
in jail we were bailed out in order to organize further TNA
actions and prepare for the upcoming jury trials. TNA consistently
calls for an end to all nuclear weapons research, development,
testing, refurbishing, and production.
The local magistrates court will not allow a consolidation
of the cases into one trial, so Marcus Page faces trial on August
18, and Mike Butler faces trial on September 15.
In mid-July the Honorable Judge Pat Casados told Defendant
Marcus Page that supporters at his trial will be limited to
22, since that's all the extra chairs in the room. The jury
will be six local volunteers in Los Alamos, with court starting
around 10:00 am. Casados says that picketing outside will have
to be a minimum of 100 feet from the courthouse.
The Los Alamos Police Department is trying to work out a plea
bargain with Page, who is representing himself. If a plea bargain
cannot be reached, then Page's support committee believes his
opponent, Officer Paige Early, will be getting the District
Attorney to represent her case instead. As it is, Officer Early
will represent herself and the State. The last time a Catholic
Worker was prosecuted in this magistrate court by the police
department was in the mid-1990s. Vince Eirene was convicted
and spent 6 months in jail. Page says he will ask for more policing
of LANL, to encourage more abolitionist actions by LANL employees.
More information is available at http://www.lovarchy.org/LANS
or contact Trinity Nuclear Abolitionists at (505) 242-0497.
Mike Butler is a member of the NWTRCC Administrative Committee.
Marcus Page is a founder of Trinity House, a Catholic Worker
house in Albuquerque. Both are involved with Albuquerque War
Tax Alternative Fund.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Economic Stimulus
Many of us war tax resisters were rather hopeful when a letter
arrived earlier this year saying we were entitled to a $600 check
(or whatever amount is appropriate to our status) as part of the
Bush administration's so-called "economic stimulus." The letter
included an approximate date by which the check would arrive,
and we began making plans to rush out and buy buy buy. Why not
hope that the IRS might make yet another mistake in the crush
of things and blast out that check even to those of us who have
refused to pay war taxes? But no. By the appointed date what came
in the mail was a form showing the $600 applied to the debt the
IRS shows, so no shopping to stimulate the economy for us.
We are grateful to the friends who did receive the payment
and decided the best way to stimulate the "underground economy"
was to give the money to NWTRCC. One man also called to say
that he was not able to join the 2008 War Tax Boycott but he
asked us to split his $600 check between Direct Aid Iraq and
Common Ground Health Clinic, the two groups suggested in the
campaign for redirection. This kind of support for war tax resistance
from non-resisters is deeply appreciated.
Information Online
For counselors who are asked about the frivolous warning letter
or penalty, there is information online at http://wartaxboycott.org/frivolous.htm
or go to the FAQ page at wartaxboycott.org. Most individuals who
are referred to that page find the information they need to answer
questions.
In addition, if you are getting questions about the telephone
tax, http://hanguponwar.org still has lots of useful information.
Tax Snitches
The IRS has been expanding its policy of rewarding people who
turn in tax evaders by giving them a cut of the proceeds. It's
become such a potentially lucrative option, in fact, that at least
one law firm has gone into business representing tax snitches.
It has so far turned in dozens of tax evaders who have underpaid
their taxes by more than $10 billion, in the hopes of getting
a payout that can be as high as 30% of what is eventually collected.
As far as we know this is an extremely rare occurrence in the
case of war tax resisters. (Source: http://sniggle.net/Experiment/index.php?entry=18Jun08&showyear=2008)
IRS Has to Wait
The IRS has decided that while it can seize your "future rights
to retirement benefits" as part of a levy, it cannot force you
to cash out early in order to get its hands on the money before
you retire. The decision arose in the case of a woman who had
a stake in a state retirement fund, but, as she was not yet retired,
hadn't started to withdraw from it. A provision of the retirement
fund would allow her to suspend her membership in the fund at
any time in exchange for a lump-sum payment.
The IRS was trying to seize assets from her, and attempted
to seize the retirement account. But the State-run fund said
there was nothing to seize, as she wasn't retired yet and didn't
yet qualify for payments. So the IRS thought it would tell the
fund to suspend the account and turn over the lump sum to the
agency.
But the IRS Chief Counsel recently ruled that the agency would
have been overstepping its authority in doing that. In cases
like this, the Counsel determined, the IRS has to seize "the
taxpayer's future rights to retirement benefits upon reaching
retirement age" and wait for the money "when benefits became
payable to the taxpayer under the terms of the retirement fund."
(Source: http://hr.cch.com/news/pension/062708a.asp)
IRS and Foreign Accounts
A May 15, 2008, article in the New York Times reported that the
IRS is renewing its interest in a law that has been on the books
since 1970 but rarely enforced. The law requires that citizens
or residents of the US must tell the IRS each year if they have
any foreign bank or financial accounts holding a total of $10,000
or more. Income from the assets is taxed at the ordinary rates
of up to 35 percent. Taxpayers are supposed to file a disclosure
form, known as the "Foreign Bank and Financial Account Report,"
(or Fbar).
The law was originally passed to root out laundering of drug
money, and failure to file a disclosure or lying on the form
can lead to penalties of fraud. The USA Patriot Act included
provisions to raise the civil penalties to $100,000 or half
the amount in the account, whichever is great. Criminal penalties
are even higher. The Times reports that the number of Fbar forms
being filed is increasing, partly because the number of foreign
countries that are cooperating with the IRS has increased in
recent years. We know of no war tax resisters who have run up
against this new enforcement, nor have we heard how widely it
is being applied.
[Return to List of Headlines]
We are grateful for recent contributions and dues payments
from:
Asheville War Tax Resistance (NC)
Christian Peacemaker Teams (IL)
Madison Area Alternative Fund (WI)
Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia (WA)
and the Estate of Dorice McDaniels
[Return to List of Headlines]
Counselors and contacts are updated on our website, nwtrcc.org
, fairly regularly. If you find that contact information is not
correct, please let the NWTRCC office know. If you need someone
in your area and do not use the internet or there is no one near
you, call the NWTRCC office for referrals, 1-800-269-7464.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Legislative & International
Why Not 50?
The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund reports that it is
approaching a milestone. Within the last month, Sheila Jackson-Lee
from the 18th District of Texas became the 41st cosponsor for
the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act, nearing the previous
high of 46 sponsors during a Congressional session. Melani Hom,
Interim Executive Director, says that they are not stopping at
46, but aiming for at least 50 cosponsors by the end of this Congress.
You can help! For more information visit http://www.peacetaxfund.org
or contact the Campaign office in Washington, DC, at (202) 483-3751.
Across the Northern Border
Joshua Goldberg is a Canadian war tax resister active with Conscience
Canada, a group working for peace tax fund legislation in Canada.
In 2007 an online magazine, Straight.com, wrote a story
about Goldberg, who also appears in the Conscience Canada short
film, "Work for Peace - Stop Paying for War." Interestingly,
Goldberg is a second generation war resister. His father fled
to Canada because he refused to be drafted in the American military
during the Vietnam War.
Joshua Goldberg recently wrote to the Canada Revenue Agency:
"Since 2002 I have been a conscientious objector to military
taxation, each year at tax time diverting the military portion
of my federal taxes to Conscience Canada's Peace Tax Trust Fund
and writing a letter to Canada Revenue Agency, submitted with
my filed taxes, explaining the reason for the diversion. This
Trust Fund is a secure, nonpartisan interim facility that allows
conscientious objectors to military taxation such as myself
the opportunity to directly contribute to peace by setting aside
the military portion of our taxes, for the federal government
to put into a fund that can be used for activities that do not
involve killing or preparations to kill.
"I understand from correspondence with CRA and various politicians
since 2002 that CRA currently has no mechanism to log my conscientious
objection to military taxation and instead treats my payments
to the Peace Tax Trust Fund as a debt owing to the government.
This administrative gap is precisely the reason why Conscience
Canada has worked with political representatives and their administrators
in Ottawa to come up with a workable solution for conscientious
objectors such as myself.
"I ask that you notify your supervisor of this letter and
that it be kept in my file to document the reasons for my redirection
of a portion of my federal tax."
Copies of Conscience Canada's DVD, "Work for Peace - Stop
Paying for War," are free, but a donation is appreciated. To
order mail a donation check to Conscience Canada, 901-70 Mill
Street, Toronto, ONT M5A 4R1 or see www.consciencecanada.ca/References/dvd.html.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Utilitarianism and the Golden Rule
I often hear a variety of responses when I tell someone that I
am a war tax resister. I'd like to address a certain group of
these responses, which come from people who also want to see an
end to war:
- "War tax resistance is not going to have any effect unless
a very large group of people do it."
- "There are more effective means of trying to end the war."
- "There are better ways to make your opinion known."
- "Your individual war tax resistance is not going to make
a difference."
- "You could do a lot more good by earning income at your
full potential and using that money to support good causes
and good organizations."
- "There are more effective ways to protest war."
These responses seem to be utilitarian in nature. Of course
I contemplate the consequences of my actions in consideration
of whether the actions are ethical. I enjoy entertaining the
thought experiment, "What if everyone did this?" However, I
do not believe that the ends always justify the means. My primary
ethical obligation is "First, do no harm." Would I be doing
harm by paying taxes that I know will be used to kill people?
Isn't paying those taxes giving both moral and financial support
to an institution that murders people? How can such voluntary
cooperation be justified?
War tax resistance is a simple application of the Golden Rule.
I would not want someone in another country (that is waging
war against my country) to pay for the bullets and bombs that
might kill me or my friends or my family.
-Greg
Reagle, Washington, DC
Two Small Stories
You never know who resists war taxes until you start talking with
them.
One of my jobs is performing administrative tasks at a drop-in
center for homeless youth. Recently I struck up a conversation
with another person who I had seen working there, but who I
had not seen often enough to think he was a regular part of
our team. It turns out that he works regularly at another site
for the same place, but was just there temporarily, making a
little extra money. He is not particularly active politically
on peace issues per se, but when I told him about NWTRCC, he
said that he just stopped paying taxes as a personal protest
when George W. Bush became President. He said he knows it'll
catch up with him eventually, but he doesn't care because he
is so mad about the war and lack of funding for social programs.
And you never know who remembers things about you until you
meet them again many years later.
Not long ago, a very close friend of my cousin's emailed me.
They have been friends since high school. He is a doctor who
works with people who have suffered from traumatic brain injury.
He is going through a period of assessing his work and his life
- a kind of a mid-life crisis, for lack of a better phrase.
He wanted to talk with me because, although we have gotten to
know each other slightly over the years through my cousin, we
don't really know each other, and he had some questions about
the way I have chosen to live my life. I met this guy many years
ago when he was an undergrad at Yale. So what does he remember
about me? The fact that I had lived at the Catholic Worker -
and that I am a war tax resister! So I shared with him a bit
of what I have experienced in both these roles. Of course getting
people to delve a bit more deeply is the challenge, but what
is great is the way that not paying war taxes is something people
remember.
-Melissa
Jameson, Brooklyn, NY
Another Reason to Resist
Charles Merrill stopped filing his tax returns because he and
his husband were prevented by law from filing as a married couple.
The Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed by President Clinton
in 1996, forces people in same-sex marriages to file tax returns
separately as if they were single. No sooner had California started
recognizing same-sex marriage this year than the IRS decided to
prosecute Charles Merrill for refusing to file - with a possible
penalty of 3 years in jail or a $25,000 fine for each year he
hasn't filed.
"Marriage between 'gender neutral' couples is legal in California,
but our union is not recognized by the federal government, and
we don't get the over 1,000 federal benefits automatically extended
to heterosexual couples," Merrill said. "Since our marriage
is not recognized by the federal government, the carving over
the Supreme Court of the United States is just meaningless words,
the words that say, 'Equal Justice Under The Law.'"
Merrill, who recently suffered a stroke, said from his wheelchair,
"I have buried $2 million worth of gold coins in the desert
as a hedge against the economy collapsing. My partner doesn't
even know where it is at." He continued, "If the IRS allows
me to file a joint federal income tax form like any other married
couple, the money is there to pay. All they have to do is dig
it up. I want to pay taxes, but not treated as a second-class
citizen. Gay marriage is not a state issue, as the political
candidates McCain and Obama claim, any more than heterosexual
marriage is. They need to rescind DOMA and make us equal citizens
under federal law. As it stands now, gay married couples are
taxed without full representation."
The 74-year-old artist has been in a relationship with Kevin
Boyle for 16 years. Merrill's trial is scheduled for sometime
in 2009 at the U.S. Tax Court in San Diego, California.
-Dave
Gross (http://sniggle.net/Experiment/index.php?entry=19Jul08)
[Return to List of Headlines]
New! We Won't Pay: A Tax Resistance Reader
Ever wanted to look up a good tax resistance story or quote, but
can't put your hands on just the right source. Well, this could
be it!
We Won't Pay by David M. Gross is a collection of writings
from over 2,000 years of tax resisters and tax resistance campaigns,
covering both tax resistance as an act of individual conscience
and revenue refusal as a technique of nonviolent resistance.
The 596-page book pulls together many essays familiar to our
readers, such as Juanita Nelson's "A Matter of Freedom," or
Bernard Offen's "For a Just World at Peace," and brings us right
up to today, with 21st Century resisters like Julia Butterfly
Hill and Kat Kanning, a New Hampshire activist.
For more detail about the contents follow the link from the
NWTRCC homepage, nwtrcc.org.
To order online go to www.createspace.com/3339658.
To order by mail, send $29 plus $4.23 postage to the author:
David Gross, 718 Clement St. #3, San Francisco CA 94118.
Save the Dates!
New England Regional Gathering
The 23rd Annual New England Regional Gathering of War Tax Resisters
and Supporters will be held on November 14 -16, 2008, at The New
School in Kennebunk, Maine. The theme of the Gathering is "Telling
Our Stories." Invited to attend are all new and experienced war
tax resisters and those who are simply exploring WTR. Cost is
$5-$50 (You decide how much). This includes food and housing.
For information, registration, and brochure please contact: Stephen
Soucy, PO Box 5510, Ellsworth, ME 04605, sjsoucy@gmail.com.
Questions? Contact Larry Dansinger at (207) 525-7776.
Announcing the Agape Community's annual St. Francis Day event
A Tribute to Daniel Berrigan, S.J.
Saturday, October 4, 2008 o 10 am
2062 Greenwich Rd., Ware, MA 01082
413-967-9369 o www.agapecommunity.org.
- Poetry reading by Fr. Daniel Berrigan S.J., and many other
wonderful events planned and speakers including:
- Prof. Michael True, professor emeritus, Assumption College
- Frida Berrigan, Senior Research Associate at the Arms Trade
Resource Center
- Robert Jonas, author, retreat leader and Japanese Flute
musician
- Dr. Carolyn West, mindfulness trainer and teacher.
Bring your own lunch contribution to the potluck.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Eugene Hosts Next CC Meeting and Gathering
Folks with Taxes for Peace Not War in Eugene, OR, have been meeting
this summer to plan for the next NWTRCC weekend, November 7-9,
2008. They're full of ideas for a fun and fruitful weekend of
workshops, presentations, and discussion. It will also be right
after the election so we can spend a bit of time considering whether
a change in administration changes our approach. The gathering
begins with dinner Friday night, a mini-conference program on
Saturday, and the Coordinating Committee meeting on Sunday morning.
The gathering ends with lunch on Sunday.
Plan your travel now. Folks on the west coast might consider
train, bus, or car pool options. Flights can be arranged into
Eugene, though the prices maybe be lower to Portland where the
local WTR group will help with travel to Eugene. Plan an extra
2 hours into your travel time to get from Portland to Eugene
if you fly (best to contact the NWTRCC office before purchasing
a ticket).
Brochures and registration forms for the meeting will be posted
online at http://www.nwtrcc.org/meetings.htm
and mailed in early September.
War Tax Boycott: Where Next?
At the May Coordinating Committee meeting in Birmingham, a good
deal of time was spent in large and small group discussions over
how the Boycott campaign worked during the last year; what worked,
what didn't; and should there be a 2009 War Tax Boycott, and what
would it look like? Your impressions of the campaign will help
us make this decision. Some comments from small group sessions
included:
- Widen our "welcome mat" to include lower-income, prisoners,
those with vow of poverty.
- Plan for a "redirection relay" after tax day, announcing
the redirection in various cities along a certain route to
bring more attention to the redirection aspect.
- Continue regardless of political climate; consider how
McCain or Obama would effect our outreach.
- Connect the campaign with "Reclaim the Commons" peace and
ecology effort.
- Don't use the word "boycott"; emphasize redirection for
human needs.
- Hire people to carry out the campaign.
- Meet with the cosponsoring groups and see if we can build
on those partnerships.
- Start in fall with launching actions across the country.
- Continue the boycott with modifications.
- Outline specific strategy, goals, and objectives, so when
we evaluate we can look back and use that to judge our success.
- Some felt the redirection was not an important aspect;
others felt it was the strongest part of the 2008 campaign.
- If we have 500 names, use that number strategically to
raise the issues of WTR in the public eye.
- Do more ads in movement publications.
- Get more current war tax resisters to sign on; many people
we know did not sign on, which would help build up the numbers
and base.
Please contact the NWTRCC office with your comments about
the 2008 War Tax Boycott and what you think should happen next:
PO Box 150553, Brooklyn, NY 11215, nwtrccc@nwtrcc.org
or 1-800-269-7464.
[Return to List of Headlines]
War Is A Racket
Reviewed by Jay Sordean
War Is A Racket by Marine Corps Major General Smedley
D. Butler (1881-1940) is a compact 51 pages outlining the costs
and profits of wars. New introductory pages written by veterans
bring the book, first published in 1935, up-to-date and offer
us highly quotable material that is especially relevant today.
In Chapter 1, Butler states, "War is a racket. It always has
been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable,
surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in
scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned
in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is…something that
is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small
'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the
benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out
of war a few people make huge fortunes." Butler goes on to detail
the profits made during various wars, ending with World War
I, and notes that in the many Central and South American and
Caribbean countries the U.S. military (and Butler himself) entered,
the Marines stayed on as an occupying army, sometimes for decades.
When they did go home, they left the countries in the hands
of a friendly dictator armed to the teeth in American-made weapons
and trained in methods to suppress the people. Behind the Marines
came business interests, and then the Marines often came back
in to protect these businessmen and put down labor strikes and
rebellions.
Granted, a lot of people's livelihoods, pensions, and investments
are directly tied to military interventions and preemptive strikes.
Perhaps this accounts for the widespread apathy or even frank
support for war in this country. On the other hand, Maj. General
Smedley Butler's three-prong approach to ending the war racket
might just be the elixir that antiwar activists seek.
He suggests that one month before going to war, give everyone
in the country - bankers, CEOs, politicians, workers - the option
to work when the war begins, but making the same amount that
the foot soldier is paid. The opportunity for war profiteering
is eliminated because everyone is paid the same.
Second, a limited plebiscite would be formed to determine
whether war should be declared. The plebiscite would be composed
not of the politicians or the heads of the military-industrial-finance
complex, but rather of those who would be called upon to do
the fighting and the dying.
According to Butler, the third step in this business of smashing
the war racket is to make certain that the military forces are
forces of defense only. If nothing else, this military man who
came to view his military interventionist service as something
to speak out against in his later years, reminds readers that
you don't have to support war and military intervention to be
a patriot, whether veteran or not.
Jay Sordean is active with Northern California War Tax Resistance.
War is a Racket can be read online or purchased from Feral
House in Port Townsend, WA, (323)-666-3311 or see http://www.feralhouse.com.
[Return to List of Headlines]
Heaven and Earth
by A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
In the summer of 2006, I officially became a Zen Buddhist and
promised to uphold the Buddhist precepts. It seemed to me that
the gravest of them was Non-Killing, and that the most violent
thing I did was to pay my federal income tax. That summer Israel
was dropping American-made bombs on Lebanon, while US soldiers
killed Iraqis and Afghans. A portion of each of my paychecks
helped cover the costs. So I resolved to stop paying my taxes.
I revised my W-4, claiming enough allowances that my withholding
dropped to zero. When it came time to file my taxes, I filed
normally, reporting to the IRS that I owed thousands of dollars,
and I included a letter explaining that my religious principles
prevented me from paying my taxes. I gave the money to the New
York City People's Life Fund.
I wonder what impression I made on the IRS clerk who read
my letter. How did he or she imagine me, a "Zen Buddhist"? As
a robed ascetic in a cave, with an inexplicably high salary?
In the last two years, I've tried to prevent the IRS from
collecting. I've had to change many aspects of my life. I quit
my full-time job as a software engineer and became a private
contractor, hoping that would hinder them. Freelancing has provided
many opportunities to practice the precept of Right Livelihood:
I have fun checking into a company's business a little bit before
I take an assignment. Some are downright immoral, like one firm
that identifies influential doctors so drug companies can target
them with marketing campaigns and "incentives." Other companies
do little harm, but add nothing to the world, which seems wasteful
to me - I put most advertising firms in this category. Sometimes
my choices are virtuous, sometimes I have to compromise.
Many people have told me that I won't make a difference, and
eventually the IRS will collect everything I owe plus interest.
I think this is probably true, but practicing the precepts isn't
about success or failure for me. I'll try to practice them even
though I can't change the headlines, even though there's no
end to war. It's frustrating to work so hard without hope of
success, but I think acting morally is my only shot at having
a fulfilling life.
I regularly attend war tax resistance meetings held by counselors
with NWTRCC. The meetings are chaired by Ed Hedemann, who's
battled the IRS for decades. At one meeting a young man who
was considering whether to pay his taxes this year asked Ed
what legal tactics might protect a war tax resister. He asked
what works. "Nothing works," Ed replied.
I was moved. Several facts became apparent to me simultaneously.
First, that Ed had worked year after year toward an ideal that
will not be realized in our lifetimes, that probably will never
be realized, and that he was committed to trying, regardless
of his chances. Second, that there was no turning back for any
of us. And finally, that it didn't matter whether we had any
chance of success: ethics don't depend on feasibility.
I think the greatest danger to me is not that I'll be punished
by the government, but that I'll forget my intention. It's easy
to get caught up in the game of resistance, finding ways to
prevent the IRS from collecting what I owe, and it's easy to
make an enemy of the IRS, the government, George Bush. I can
imagine that I'm some kind of hero. But if I allow myself to
do that, I'll undermine my own project. In the name of peace,
I'll have started my own private war.
Instead, I have to keep in mind that the reason I decided
not to pay my federal taxes in the first place was because I
refuse, as a Buddhist, to use violence to achieve my goals.
As soon as I make enemies of those with whom I disagree, as
soon as I take pleasure in winning a conflict, I've already
lost. As Zen Master Seng T'san said, "A hair's breadth difference,
and heaven and earth are set apart."
A version of this article first appeared in the Dec '07/
Jan '08 Village Zendo Journal, http://villagezendo.org.
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