I’m a little “l” Libertarian, mainly because I believe that the country needs a strong Reagan style foreign policy to protect us while we indulge in our Libertarian debaucheries. I have a place in my heart for anti-establishment rebels who believe in liberty over law, freedom over formality. That being said, I don’t have a place in my heart for suicidal “tax protester” and the newest hero of the Alex Jones set, Ed Brown.
Brown is now barricaded in his home, refusing to come out until the Government bows to his demands that he not have to pay the back taxes he owes, since he and his wife hadn’t paid taxes for more then a decade. The wife Elaine Brown made most of the money, and admitted that she “did some research” to conclude that paying taxes was unconstitutional.
In other words, like Wesley Snipes, she got suckered. Now the U.S. Marshals are going to take her house to pay the back taxes.
Elaine went to court, presented her case, and now resides in Massachusetts with her son. Ed however, has stayed in his New Hampshire home and called for support from other kooks, telling them they should come to his house armed and help him shoot it out with the feds. That, however, isn’t where he lost me, although anyone seeking to overthrow my government is my enemy.
No, Ed lost me before that, as all his ilk do, with their conspiracy mongering about “Zionists,” their unseemly desire for martyrdom, their links with the unsavory “patriot” movement which seems to be comprised of neo-Nazi’s, abductees, and the assorted tin foil enthusiasts who are the unfortunate fringe of Libertarianism. Make no mistake, Ed Brown has claimed, in this interview posted on GunShowOnThe Net, that taxes are part of the larger conspiracy by “Zionists,” that the U.S. government is responsible for 9/11, and that the only way to “glory” is through dying by his side in defense of his property.
And there are plenty of folks drinking his kool-aid. Like the guy who conducted the above interview Kenneth Hensley, whose website is dedicated to raising funds to buy a bus ticket there so he can fight the feds with his new hero. Ken’s not alone – the N.W.O. nuts who were all over the Internet in the 90’s are converging on Brown’s house with guns to fight our government.
It should be noted that officials haven’t yet threatened him, they haven’t done anything outside their jobs. The Browns dodged their taxes and got caught. Now they owe back taxes. They can’t pay, and thus will have their house auctioned off. They got suckered into thinking they could use a convoluted argument avoid taxes, and it turned out they were wrong.
Now that the law’s caught up with him, Ed wants as many people as possible to come and die a glorious death in his burning house, which he hopes the feds will set alight Waco style. This isn’t patriotism, it isn’t even paranoia. This is insanity. And supporting him will feed into it.
Ed Brown isn’t a hero, he’s a crank, a man who refuses to take any responsibility for his own actions and worse, wants others to pay the ultimate price so that he can continue to avoid being held responsible.
If people die in New Hampshire in the coming weeks, the responsibility will lay not at the feet of the civil servants doing their jobs, but at the doorstep of a conspiracy theorist, and the loathesome Internet rabble who support him.