Even before the Declaration of Independence, the phrase of "No Taxation Without Representation" echoed among the American colonists as they were struggling to shrug-off the rule imposed by England: Today, that same phrase is even more so an issue that many Americans don't consider.

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Even before the Declaration of Independence, the phrase of “No Taxation Without Representation” echoed among the American colonists as they were struggling to shrug-off the rule imposed by England:

“No taxation without representation” was a slogan in the period 1763-1775 that summarized a primary grievance of the American colonists in the Thirteen colonies. The colonists complained that taxes were imposed by Parliament without the consent of the colonists, which violated the traditional Rights of Englishmen dating back from the Magna Carta. The point was that the colonies had no representation in Parliament; the British responded that they were “virtually” represented. The Americans said these “virtual representatives” knew nothing about America. The Americans rejected the Stamp Act 1765 (which was repealed), and in 1773 violently rejected the tax on imports at the Boston Tea Party. When Great Britain began to crack down on the illegal activities performed by the colonists, the colonists formed militias and seized control of each colony, ousting the royal governors. The complaint was never officially over the amount of taxation (the taxes were quite low), but always on the decision-making process by which taxes were decided in London, without representation for the colonists in British Parliament. In February, 1775, Britain passed the Conciliatory Resolution which ended taxation for any colony which satisfactory provided for the imperial defense and the upkeep of imperial officers.

The phrase “No Taxation Without Representation!” was coined by Reverend Jonathan Mayhew in a sermon in Boston in 1750. By 1765 the term “no taxation without representation” was in use in Boston, but no one is sure who first used it. Boston politician James Otis was most famously associated with the term, “taxation without representation is tyranny.” [1]

By the 1760s the Americans came to believe they were being deprived of a historic right.[2] LINK

The above statement which the American Colonists repeatedly alleged is now as germane today as it was in 1763. The American people no longer are “represented” by their government, but are ordered by a Congress and Presidency to part with their hard-earned money with virtually little or no actual representation. Many will say that’s not true, that our elected officials and Congress represent the people, but in today’s society, it’s apparent that our government only represents the wealthy, special interest groups, and above all, corporations - which have assumed an almost God-like influence in the governance of this nation.

The United States, contrary to what President Bush and the religious-right allege, is not a “Christian Nation” - and in fact was spelled-out by the United States Government when the Treaty of Tripoli was ratified by the United States on June 10, 1797:

Article 11 reads:

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” LINK

Further, if we examine the Constitution and the history of when “God” appeared in our government, it was far after the Founding Fathers had passed from this earth. The below represents a very short synopsis of God and the Constitution, and is extremely telling: (Excerpts)

Please reread the Constitution, religion is only mentioned in exclusionary terms. The words “Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God” are never mentioned. The pledge (of allegiance), written in 1892 did not have “One nation under God” until 1954, and “In God we trust” did not appear until 1864, well after the Founding Fathers had passed, and did not appear on all (Currency?) until after 1957. LINK

Even more fascinating is that the “Pledge of Allegiance” was not written by the government, but was in fact an advertising tool to help a youth group sell flags:

The Pledge of Allegiance was written for the popular kid’s magazine Youth’s Companion by Christian Socialist author and Baptist minister Francis Bellamy on September 7, 1892. The owners of Youth’s Companion were selling flags to schools, and approached Bellamy to write the Pledge for their advertising campaign. (Emphasis added.) It was marketed as a way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus arriving in the Americas and was first published on the following day.

Bellamy’s original Pledge read as follows: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, and was seen by some as a call for national unity and wholeness after the divisive Civil War. The pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be stated in 15 seconds. He had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided they were too controversial since many people still opposed equal rights for women and blacks. Bellamy said that the purpose of the pledge was to teach obedience to the state as a virtue.[citation needed] LINK

Fast-forward to modern times, and the principle of separation of church and state was well spelled out by our own government, and the below quote is from USINFO.STATE.GOV:

Separation of Church and State in the U.S.
Courts, politicians continue to debate meaning

By Alexandra Abboud
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington — “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” reads the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

This clause has been interpreted to mean that the government of the United States — unlike Great Britain and other European countries — may not declare one religion as the national religion nor support one religion over another.

However, this clause is still much debated today, and the Supreme Court of the United States is often asked to clarify the meaning of what is known as the Establishment Clause and the issue of separation of church and state.

It was not until 1802 that the phrase “separation of Church and State” became synonymous with the Establishment Clause. Thomas Jefferson coined the phrase in a letter written to the Danbury Baptist Association in which Jefferson defended his decision to not proclaim national days of fasting and thanksgiving, as the two presidents before him — Washington and Adams — had done.

The Constitution states that Congress “should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”; thus building a wall of eternal separation between Church & State, ” he wrote.

LINK

Now, under the Bush administration, and we examine “Faith based Charities”, and the government’s support thereof, it brings forth constitutional issues that are alarming and represent the epitome of “Taxation without Representation.” It’s common knowledge the Supreme Court is stacked by right-wing conservative Justices, who, in their allegiance to the Bush administration and bolstered by their own religious beliefs, have become exactly what President Bush and the conservative majority stated they were attempting to halt, “Activist Federal Judges!”

This sham of what should be an impartial group of Justices has ruled that Americans cannot oppose the President’s “faith based initiatives” in a decision that was based on religion rather than our own Constitution and Bill of Rights:

Taxpayers can’t challenge faith-based program, justices rule

By The Associated Press
06.25.07

WASHINGTON — Ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge a White House initiative that helps religious charities get a share of federal money, the Supreme Court ruled today.

The 5-4 decision in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials, including the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

In dissent, Justice David Souter said the Court should have allowed the taxpayer challenge to proceed.

The majority “closes the door on these taxpayers because the executive branch, and not the legislative branch, caused their injury,” wrote Souter. “I see no basis for this distinction in either logic or precedent.”

“Here, there is no dispute that taxpayer money in identifiable amounts is funding conferences, and these are alleged to have the purposes of promoting religion,” Souter wrote. “When executive agencies spend identifiable sums of tax money for religious purposes, no less than when Congress authorizes the same thing, taxpayers suffer injury.” MUCH MORE

When we look at the dollar amounts that are involved, it staggers the imagination to understand that agnostics and atheists, also Americans and who supposedly are guaranteed equal protection under our laws, see their tax dollars given out to religious groups that benefit neither of the above mentioned groups, which are sizable, albeit not the majority of the population:

Transformation from Secular to Religious Government

Under the Bush administration, our country is experiencing a major transformation from a secular to a religious government. The President’s faith-based initiative is central to this transformation and raises serious questions about church-state separation. “Slouching toward theocracy. President Bush’s faith-based initiative is doing better than you think,” by Bill Berkowitz, 2/6/04 provides an overview of this transformation.

In his State of the Union address, Bush renewed a call for Congress to make permanent his faith-based proposals that would allow religious organizations to compete for more government contracts and grants without a strict separation between their religious activities and social service programs.

On February 4, 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives voted for provisions in a social services bill that allow religiously based job discrimination in publicly funded programs run by churches.

How Much Money?

How much are taxpayers paying for what Barry Lynn, Executive Director of American’s United calls “federally subsidized employment discrimination?” According to Daniel Zwerdling who produced two programs on faith-based initiative for Bill Moyers TV show NOW in September, 2003, “administration spokesmen say they can’t break down how much money has gone so far to religious groups .. they claim they don’t keep that information.”

The March, 2004, issue of Church and State reports that the “Faith Czar” Jim Towey announced to reporters that $40 billion dollars (Emphasis added.) was now available to religious charities. MORE

In this writer’s opinion, the “Faith Based Initiatives” promoted by President Bush are nothing less than bribes given to the religious community to insure their votes and support, but even conservative Christians have complained that Bush has not lived-up to his promises to the religious-right - and their support of him is beginning to diminish. The crux of the issue is whether or not President Bush is truly a “Born Again Christian” and in my opinion, Catholics and Mormons had better hope that his religious beliefs are phony rather than a reality, because if he is truly a “Born Again Christian” - especially considering his right-wing views - the Catholics and Mormons that support this administration are apt to have a rude awakening once Bush finalizes his quest to change our democracy into a theocratic authoritarian style of government; “Born Again Christians” adamantly believe that Catholicism and Mormonism are nothing more than a cult, and have corrupted the so-called “word of God.” The below quote is from a “Christian” site that explicitly relates how born-again Christians view the Catholic Church:

The Roman Catholic “Church” is Not Christian

Practically all precepts of the Roman Catholic religion contradict the Bible repeatedly. It is the largest cult in the world and most preachers will not openly say so because it is so large. For Catholics who read this, please remember this: the person that tells you the truth is the one that cares.

For a glimpse of the atrocities committed by the Roman Catholic religion, do a net search on the Inquisition or the Crusades. During the Inquisition, the Catholic religion killed millions. Why? Primarily to suppress any and all opposition to the pope. Side “benefits” included taking the material wealth of its victims and showing the pope’s power. The Catholic Inquisitors tortured, crippled, burned, and imprisioned millions of people. Whatever happened to love your enemies? (Matthew 5:44)

Before we get to specific problems with Catholic doctrine, let’s review how this bloodthirsty organization treated a man who simply wanted to get the Bible into the hands of the common people. In the late 1300s John Wycilf translated the scriptures from the Latin Vulgate. Some 40 odd years after his death, the Catholic religion dug up his bones and burned them calling him an arch-heretick. In the 1500’s William Tyndale sought to translate the Bible into the language of the common people, English. He could not gain approval from the Catholic religon so he worked as an outlaw on the run in Europe, translating the Bible. He was eventually captured, condemned and executed in 1536. It is because of people like these men, Tyndale and Wycliffe, that we have the scriptures today. If the Catholic religion had its way, we’d still be in ignorance about the Bible and enslaved to the pope. Time fails me here to tell of other marytrs like John Hus, John Rogers, etc. who were killed by popish persons. MUCH MORE

Not all Christians (REAL Christians in this writer’s opinion.) view Catholics in this manner, but those who are members of the right-wing Evangelical movement do, among others, and their unmitigated support of the “Left Behind” video game they are allowing their children to play demonstrates their bigotry toward anyone that doesn’t share their narrow-minded beliefs:

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission — to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is “to conduct physical and spiritual warfare”; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. LINK

I grew-up in the Mormon Church myself, and am particularly shocked at the huge support the Mormon Church and Utah Republicans provide for this President. Mormonism, as viewed by other “Christian Oriented Churches” are almost unanimously of the opinion that Mormonism is a cult, and that includes many who aren’t even right-wing evangelicals, and I’ve experienced the shock of those who are such “Christians” firsthand in Pensacola, Fl. When the students from Pensacola Christian College came knocking on Sundays; merely mentioning that I was a Mormon was greeted with shock and I was left with the impression they had seen Lucifer himself! I never failed to see them leaving and mumbling to themselves, and at that time, I thought it was comical if not downright absurd. Now, as our country is rapidly becoming more authoritarian in nature, I’m not sure it’s so funny anymore…

When the majority of Americans believe that our country is headed in the wrong way, and the government continues to defy public opinion, how much of your tax dollars are actually represented by the people? Our tax dollars were spent creating NAFTA and CAFTA, two agreements that have helped to destroy Middle-class America, although that’s “Taxation by Misrepresentation”, and now that our own tax dollars have been used against us, I’d consider that to also fall under Taxation without Representation. Add to tax dollars spent on religion and it become crystal clear the government doesn’t give a darn what the “people” think, but spend our money only to gratify the wealthy, the religious, and Corporations.

We seem to be in an endless constitutional crisis that Congress is unable or unwilling to cope with, and as we watch our nation sliding into tyranny, it might be time for people to understand where they might stand if we continue on the road to an utter destruction of the American way of Life.

William Cormier

Authors Bio:

My Bio is as varied as my life. In 2012, my twin sons murdered a Journalist in Pensacola, Fl., for 100K worth of "Magic The Gathering" playing cards and buried the body in my backyard. I was once a regular writer here, but PTSD from my son's actions took their toll. First, I lost everything I had. Second, I lost my fiancee. Third, I almost lost my life. Recovery has been a hard and lonesome road, and it isn't quite over yet. I will overcome this disaster as I have others, and return to college to resume my quest to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism.

Admittedly, I have chosen to get back in the mix and do my duty to help destroy any chance that Trump may have of being elected to a second term.