Voluminous Codes Eroding the Delicate Balance Between Liberty and Social Order

Liberty is defined as the freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control. In other words, liberty does not imply the absence of rules and consequence of breaking those rules, only the absence of arbritrary and/or despotic rule. At the other end of the spectrum is social order, or the absence of anarchy, which one could say is of equal importance. The United States of America, it is said, is one of the first nations in history to create a form of government that, as much as possible, harmoniously balances liberty and social order.

As we emerge from the first decade of the twenty-first century, the rules preserving rights and liberties have increasingly been sacrificed in the name of "national security", primarily by lawmakers who have created an ambiguous, incoherent web of laws, leaving the average citizen in the dark.

Take the income tax, which can be traced back to 1862, when President Lincoln and Congress created the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax to pay war expenses. It was passed as an emergency and temporary war-time tax, and in 1894, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitional. That is until the 16th amendment exempted income taxes from the constitutional requirements regarding direct taxes, after income taxes on rents, dividends, and interest were ruled to be direct taxes in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895). And in 1913 the very first IRS 1040 form was created, and since that point, the IRS code has morphed into an exceedingly convoluted, complex and oppressive creature.

One might ask, “Why can’t the tax laws be more simple?” Well, not only because  of government’s insatiable desire for revenue, but also because Congress uses the tax laws for reasons other than that for which they were intended. The same is true for our legal system, in general.  Our constitutional rights, if we really ever had them to begin with, have essentially been eviscerated by code. What can we do about it? On an individual basis, not much.

The real world determination of legal or "lawful" arguments lie with the immune judges, and prosecutors. Not only can they enforce the law, they can do so with impunity.

In 1976, the Supreme Court decided, in a case called Imbler v. Pachtman, that prosecutors have absolute immunity from civil rights lawsuits for their work in the courtroom. The court acknowledged that its ruling “does leave the genuinely wronged defendant without civil redress against a prosecutor whose malicious or dishonest action deprives him of liberty,” but said the alternative was worse: leaving prosecutors to fear a lawsuit, or even bankruptcy, every time they lose a trial..

Insofar as income tax, code section 6011 and code section 6012 require citizens to file.  Constitutional? No, but go ahead and try to fight it.

The IRS can bring any action in the courts of the United States. There is an entire section of the Internal Revenue code that creates jurisdiction for the IRS to bring a lawsuit. For example, a section 7403 action, which allows the IRS to file a lawsuit against any delinquent taxpayer in a situation where the IRS wants to seize the property of that taxpayer. Although, the IRS is not allowed to seize the home of a taxpayer through the administrative process, the IRS can seek an order from a judge who allows the IRS to seize the property

It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed? -- James Madison

A Monument of Deficient Wisdom:

The IRS is an agency of the government of the United States; however, it has no respect for the constitution. The courts of the US have enforced the Internal Revenue code to the detriment of the constitution There is nothing morally or constitutionally correct about our current tax law. But, can they as a practical real life matter, enforce it? Yes, they can.

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Achieving Transparency through Plain Language

What is the cost of obscurity? The cost of wordy, unclear, pompous, and dull? Well, the VA saved $40,000 per year from rewriting one standard letter in plain language. The Navy reduced reading time by 17-23% and saved $350 million per document. GE saved up to $500,000 by reducing help desk staff costs by rewriting a software manual. That's just a few examples of what clear and effective communication can save in time and money.

Experts claim we can easily cut 25% from our writings. Think of this in the context of saving disk space on computers or shelf space in reference libraries. How many fewer sheets of paper would the Department of Defense use were it to reduce all texts by one fourth? On the NPR website is an article which tells of a 1989 study of Naval Officers who took 17% to 23% less time to read a plain language version of a document versus the document in its original form. Furthermore, their comprehension increased after reading the clearer text. By placing dollar figures on the results using an average hourly pay figure for officers, the study determined the Navy would save from $27 million to $37 million on the low end and $57 million to $73 million on the high end just from the time saved reading plain language documents. If all Navy personnel read plain language documents, then the saving would be in excess of $250 million each year!

Yet, anyone who has read a credit card disclosure , mortgage contract, or any legal contract for that matter, can tell you it's almost impossible to comprehend, even for the most learned Americans, in some cases, let alone, the average citizen with an 8th grade reading level. And let's not even start on the unintelligible entangled monstrosities that are credit derivatives...the ones that brought our economy to its knees.

So, why can't we, the people demand the right to understand what we pay for, vote for, and depend on a daily basis? Why is it legal that corporations and institutions can obscure documents and disclosures on purpose, clearly, for their own gain? After all, the U.S. Constitution states the role of the federal government is to "promote the general welfare". That is, government should provide a level playing field that allows every citizen the chance to take advantage of what the United States has to offer.

However, a confused American is very profitable American, and that's the name of the game -- profits before people. The objective is clearly to make most Americans feel powerless and stupid. The profit makers/power brokers know very well that no one likes to admit their failure to comprehend the tax code, real estate papers, statutes, executive orders, affidavits, jury instructions, insurance contracts, investment contracts, 16 page credit card agreements (printed on tissue paper in microscopic type, written on the "twenty-seventh" grade reading level) and all consumer-finance contracts and anything and everything written in legalese. Confusion is the best way to maintain the vast inequity built into our education and socioeconomic system.

There is no excuse. It's been proven that complex subjects can be translated into plain language with no loss of accuracy or precision. It's been proven that plain language saves time, money, and most importantly, sanity. As it states in the Principles for Long-term Credit Card Reform, "all the forms and statements that credit card companies send out have to have plain language that is in plain sight"...that this should apply to all government and private documents, from every industry so that all Americans are given the opportunity to comprehend and understand without hiring specialists that charge excessive fees that most of us cannot afford.

Links:

Center for Plain Language - wants government and business documents to be clear and understandable. They support those who use plain language, train those who should use plain language, and urge people to demand plain language in all the documents they receive, read, and use.

71-year old Chrissie Maher found the Plain English Campaign, 30-years ago, waging war on confusing language.

2009 Center for Plain Language Symposium -
National Press Club, Washington, D.C., October 30, 2009

The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN)

From slam poetry to plain language for health care

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What About an Eighth Grade Clarity Committee (EGCC)?

More than wealth, guns, knives, attack dogs, alarm systems, heavy armor, etc., our first line of defense against what life can dish out in today's society - protecting ourselves from private industry, our government, financial and legal system - is learning to read. The average reading level in America - approximately 8th grade - enables the "average" American to read and comprehend the New York Times. Some may argue that that's not good enough. However, when you consider the average IQ is 100, the vast inequity built into our education and socioeconomic system - the number of people struggling to put food on the table - America's reading level is just about where it should be. In other words, American citizens are doing the best they can with what they've got to work with.

Assuming we the people, have lived up to our end of the bargain, what can we expect from the federal government? What is their role? Well, according to the U.S. Constitution, the role of the federal government is to "promote the general welfare". That is, government should provide a level playing field as much as possible that allows every citizen the chance to take advantage of what the United States has to offer. This is certainly not the case when institutions are allowed to write documents and disclosures in such a way that the complexity far surpasses the average American citizen's reading capacity. Credit card disclosures, mortgage contracts, and credit derivatives, especially, surpass the reading level of some of the most learned people in the United States!

Why can't we demand that every American has the right to understand what we pay for, vote for, and depend on a daily basis? Why is it legal that corporations and institutions can obscure documents and disclosures on purpose, clearly, for their own gain?

The answer is easy. A confused American is very profitable American. The objective is clearly to make most Americans feel powerless and stupid. No one likes to admit their failure to comprehend the tax code, real estate papers, statutes, executive orders, affidavits, jury instructions, insurance contracts, investment contracts, 16 page credit card agreements (printed on tissue paper in microscopic type, written on the "twenty-seventh" grade reading level) and all consumer-finance contracts and anything and everything written in legalese.

What would happen if every piece of legislation, every contract, credit card agreement, and basically anything legally binding had to pass through the Eighth Grade Clarity Committee (EGCC), made up of a diverse group of high achieving eighth graders of average to above average intelligence, as a final test of clarity. If all the eighth graders appointed understand, it passes...if not, it must go back for a rewrite until the EGCC grasp whatever it is being tested with little effort.

It's been proven that complex subjects can be translated into plain language with no loss of accuracy or precision. It's been proven that plain language saves time, money, and most importantly, sanity.

People like myself will be most appreciative and I think we would see a thriving, productive, and most importantly, an informed America evolve.

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