Horning Economic Plan

While they’ve not granted me nearly as much coverage as they’ve bequeathed to entrenched-party candidates, my hat is nonetheless off to WTHR-13 in Indianapolis who, at least this once, covered one of my press conferences.  Here’s a story the other media missed (Thank you, Kevin Rader), and here’s a copy of the press conference handout that WTHR actually linked to their website:

Politicians have been protecting themselves, their cronies and their money for so long that their whole robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul scheme is on the verge of collapse – and they’re taking us all with them.  This is not good.  But we still have time to prevent the worst.

In the 2000 gubernatorial race I said we should cut government spending by 7% per year, push back against Washington, DC’s profligacy, and restore the legitimacy and practicality of constitutional governance in order to prepare for the financial crisis now upon us.

Now we must act more quickly and aggressively.  It is perhaps too late to avoid pain, but we still have great opportunities.

Indeed, we can become the Switzerland of the USA if we only insist upon the constitutions to which every politician has already sworn an oath of obedience:

 

1. Cut property tax by at least 50%.  This would be done mostly by removing public school costs from personal property tax, as Article 8, Section 2 already requires. 
2. Forbid the foreclosures and usurious tax lien sales on residences driven by property tax (see Article I, Section 22 of the Indiana Constitution).   
3. Unconstitutional spending must stop immediately!  There will be no more corporate subsidies, as such are forbidden by Article 11, Section 12.  Article 10, Section 5 forbids most bond issues.  And Article 13, Section 1 forbids much of the state’s debts.  And instead of embracing the costly mandates and taxes from the thieves in DC, we must insist upon the federalism mandated by both state and federal constitutions.
4. Invoke the Sound Money policy described in Article 11, Section 3 of the Indiana Constitution.  We now have the technology to quickly acquire gold and silver as backing for this marketable trade currency (see http://www.goldmoneybill.org/), and to verify a sound yet profitable fractional reserve for safe lending practices.
5. We must reactivate the voluntary service organizations that were once the heart, soul and helping hands of this nation.  I would do my level best to encourage voluntary organizations (churches, Lion’s Clubs, women’s service groups) to roll up their sleeves, put out a call for new members and get busy.  Government will no longer compete with these groups, and will instead get out of the way.
6. Rule of Law.  It should now be evident that politicians must be kept to their oaths and kept on a leash.  We need politicians to concentrate on their real, valid, necessary jobs to keep peace and security.  I would focus government on the protection of our property, rights and lives as though government has no other job.

 

Our current crop of politicians has chosen to inflate the “bubble” even more, rather than to fix the problems now.  They’ve chosen to more deeply mortgage our future when we can no longer afford that.  At best, their promises have failed.  More likely, they’ve lied to us.  It’s up to voters to fix this by firing the liars, cheats and thieves, and by choosing a better, legal, proven course for this nation.

 

Andy Horning

Freedom, Indiana

Do it for the children…

The Indy Star made some seemingly minor edits to my gubernatorial candidate submission, but I thought I’d better post the original here just in case you wanted to see what I’d actually sent them (or in case you don’t get the Star):

 

We all want what’s best for our kids.  Nobody wants to believe we’re screwing up our kids with government schools.  So it’s natural and common to deny the extent and nature of the problems with our schools.  But our schools are literally a criminal shame.

I don’t have space to detail the problems with unconstitutional regulations and bureaucracies that sap teachers’ authority and initiative.  I wish I could shed light on corruption like the Tremco/AEPA/Wilson Education Center no-bid jobs; or discuss the injustice of low teacher pay against six-figure salaries for school administrators, sports coaches and of course union officials.  You can see the problems if you dare to look.  What’s important is that we can fix the problems if only we’ll change the way we think, and vote, about schools.

A good start would be to examine what was originally designed, acknowledge what devolved, and then plan a fix.

Article 8 of the Indiana Constitution is the law respecting our tax-supported education system.  The key words are “…and provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all.”

When our constitution was written, “Common School” meant the uniform and simple system of primary (not secondary) education promoted by Horace Mann as the “ladder of opportunity.”  As opposed to the free church-run schools of the day, Common Schools were intended to give poor children a non-Christian education.  They were to be state-funded with no disparity between rich and poor regions.  And these uniform schools were meant to be rigidly focused on scholastic achievement, so that a Common School graduate would be ready to work in the real world with useful skills in mathematics, science, communication and technology.  Colleges and universities were only for those who needed specialized, advanced training for academia, medicine or engineering.  After all, real life (and drop-outs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Thomas Edison…) won’t wait through two decades in a classroom. 

Article 8, Sections 2 through 7 lay out specific funding by an “inviolate” and “perpetual” Common School trust fund.   Of course that fund was violated and is now gone.  But the fund is still law, to be maintained through many specified sources including “taxes on the property of corporations.”  What is excluded, and therefore not authorized, is personal property tax. 

So legally, half of your property tax bill is unconstitutional. 

This is the law.  If we don’t like it, then let’s talk about how we’d amend it. 

But I believe the law is vastly better than what we’ve fallen into with our political chicanery.  So here’s what I propose we do:

We’d de-consolidate toward a greater number of smaller schools where buses become obsolete in all but rural areas, so that parents and teachers can more easily collaborate; and kids would no longer be such tiny fish in such large oceans.  Teachers would have authority to teach, to expect a high standard of performance, and to expel.  No more “dumbing-down” or lowering standards to fit a curve.  Teachers would be rewarded for performance, not just for paying union dues. We would spin off sporting facilities into community centers and gyms so that kids don’t have to be genetically gifted to play. 

…We all know kids who need more opportunities to exercise. 

And while there is no excuse for compromising necessities like music and art instruction, microscopes, and a clean, healthy environment; homeschool successes have demonstrated that education doesn’t have to be vast and expensive.  And it wouldn’t be, if school money went solely to teachers, smaller-scale buildings, and education supplies.

Besides being an improvement on what we do now, this is the law.

But so is, believe it or not, “school choice.”  There is nothing in the constitution or historical understanding, to deny parents the option to choose homeschooling, church or other private schools. 

Doesn’t this already give everybody what they say they want?  I say that’s a great compromise, and already ours by law.

 

Distorted news is bad news, but better than no news!

I know that major media are financially squeezed and short-staffed.  I know that most of those remaining are the left-of-Lenin J-school acolytes.  But there is no excuse for twisted, biased and just-flat-wrong reporting.

I wrote this in response to one newspaper’s faulty reporting.  Please write and send off your own.  We need to get the media on our side.  Currently, they’re on the other side, you know…

 

There was no “property tax protest” on July 4.

It’s true enough that some people (not enough) are still mad about unconstitutional property taxes.  This may have motivated about five of the fifty who showed up on the Governor’s Mansion lawn in the pouring rain.  But tax policy was never billed as any part of the purpose of this year’s Independence Day protest.  In fact, in all five press releases, two radio spots and dozens of emails and internet postings related to this event, I specifically insisted that we were protesting our politicians’ defiance of state and federal constitutions, and not just a specific tax policy.  Politicians’ illegal abuse of power is what created our curent problems with debt, spending, education, prices, jobs and, OK, property taxes.  Politicians are breaking crucial, protective laws, in other words, and we were protesting lawless lawmakers, or what I call anarchy.

The disease is ungoverned government.  That’s what we were protesting.  It’s wrong to report just one symptom like property tax when that wasn’t the core issue last year either.  Last summer’s popular “Tea Party” protests that followed were solely about property tax.  And yes, I first advocated constitutionally eliminating property tax back in 1998 and haven’t changed my tune on that subject.  But I never had anything to do with a “property tax protest.” 

We have much more serious threats to our life, liberty and property.

While the rest of us are tightening our belts and surrendering our rights to keep them fed and happy, our politicians are engorging themselves on money and power with no end but total collapse in sight.  It is of course your choice what you want to say about what really happened on July 4.  It’s your paper.  But I hope you offer me the opportunity to set things right.

Constitutions are the laws that protect us from politicians.  Politicians, by their nature, break those laws when we let them.  It’s time we say “whoa” and end the anarchy.

Our protest was really just one, simple, basic plea: It’s time for politicians to honor their oaths of office and obey written laws, as written.  If you’d like to read those laws, they’re all posted at my campaign website, www.horningforgovernor.com 

 

Well, it certainly did rain…

The weather was about as bad as it could be on Independence Day.  Unseasonably cool, with the low, misty clouds and kind of rain that you suspect will last forever…I’m surprised we had as many hardy souls turn up as did on Friday morning. 

To all those who showed up (maybe as many as 50 by some media reports), I can’t thank you enough.  I know that I didn’t thank you enough on Friday.

Thank you.  Thank you from the soggy depths of my heart.

Please know that we accomplished a good part of the mission.  We got some media coverage!

Some of it was accurate; some of it was lies from the tongue of Satan.  But it really is like they say; any media is good media. 

At least people can see that there are options, and that there are people speaking on their behalf.  Even people watching the most biased reports can see that there are those among us who are not satisfied with the status quo.  And that’s a good thing.

…And we’re just getting started.

Well, anyway, thank you.  I thank those that showed up, and I thank those who read these words.

Liberty or Bust!

Betcha Didn’t Know…

Did you know…

• That most government spending is illegal?
• That tax-funded schools are supposed to be identical/equal all across the state? 
• That it’s illegal to take personal property tax for schools?
• That justice is supposed to be tax-paid without any additional purchase?
• That constitutional rights cannot be regulated?
• That all Indiana politicians swear oaths to both Indiana and USA constitutions?
• That politicians have only the powers specifically written into constitutions?
• That only citizens can interpret constitutions, and only jurors can interpret laws?
• That politicians must obey constitutions…as written?

Well, politicians certainly don’t want you to know these facts, but they’re all clearly written into the laws that protect you from politicians – the state and federal constitutions.

Why belabor the minor nuisances of corporate/political corruption, entrenched political powers, wild spending, shortsighted tax policy or even the “wasted vote” deceit that you’ll no doubt hear over and over again in this campaign?  These are all symptoms; not the disease itself. 

The disease is ungoverned government.  It’s the only anarchy that has ever existed – power without restraint.  And the solution is simple.  You must govern your government.

Fortunately, that’s simple.  You can simply vote for those who swear to honor their oaths of office “to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States.” 

Unfortunately, all your neighbors don’t know what you now know, and it costs money to get their attention.  Even more unfortunately, the enemies of the simple, uniform justice written into our laws pay lots of money to get special deals.  They pay even more to deceive us.  Too few are willing to pay for a Fair Deal.

Please read through these Indiana Constitution excerpts, and consider what you can do to take back what’s yours by law.

Make checks payable to: Horning for Governor, 7851 Pleasant Hill Road, Freedom, IN 47431.

 

 

… Where’s the Relief?

Who: Friends of Liberty and Justice for All 

What: July 4 Celebration, as properly done

When: Friday, 4 July, 2008 from 10-11am

Where: In front of the Indiana Governor’s Mansion at 4750 N. Meridian, Indianapolis

Contact: Andy Horning; andrewhorning@hotmail.com

 

 July 4 Done Proper

 

Eleven score and twelve years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that politicians must be kept on a constitutional leash.

Yet now we’re engaged in that ancient battle of politicians against their own citizens.  It’s been exactly a year since our property tax protest made national news.  Now sales taxes are up, property taxes are up, spending is up, debts are out of control…what have we accomplished with the protests last year?  What did our founders accomplish with their blood, sweat and tears?  Certainly, King George never taxed Americans a fraction of today’s load.

It is time to turn up the wick and make this July 4 something even more memorable than the last.

We are not interested in just tax policy any more – even eliminating property tax isn’t enough.  We are not going to merely remove a few entrenched politicians. 

No, we intend nothing less than to govern our government by proven, written standards.  It is time to demand that all of our politicians obey the laws that protect us from them.  It is time for the full restoration of the contracts and freedoms that made this nation great.

We will demand that our politicians obey constitutions as written.  No “interpretations,” no ifs, ands or buts.

In other words, we resolve that our heroic, patriotic dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

###

Horning for Governor Platform Highlights

I’ve been told that my platform (the Indiana Constitution) is too long to read.

I withheld my anger very nicely.  Nobody got hurt.

But my friends, there is no shortcut.  And the Indiana Constitution, flawed as it is, is a whole lot shorter than any bill written in the last hundred years.  You can’t buy any prescription medicine without seeing a lot more legalistic mumbo jumbo than is contained in the laws that, by the way, protect you.

Sigh.

What follows are excerpts from the Indiana Constitution in red, with my comments in black.  This constitution, along with the federal constitution to which the Governor also swears an oath of support, is the law that literally authorizes every aspect and level of government.  No law can contravene it, and no politician can legally disobey it.  It can be amended, but it is to be obeyed as written.  No “interpretations” from the bench.  No debating the meaning of the word “is.”  No ifs, ands or buts. 

Read it yourself.  The whole constitution is at www.horningforgovernor.com.  Read it in context.  You judge.

The Indiana Constitution constitutes the entire platform for the Horning for Governor campaign.  It is what, sadly, makes my campaign unique.  It shouldn’t be so unique, but I am the only candidate standing for the law.  Others advocate continued lawbreaking by politicians.  It’s that simple, really.

You see, politicians have no interest in constitutions if you don’t.  All constitutions are intended to govern politicians, not you.  Just as you’d never expect a bad dog to beg for a leash, you’ll never get politicians to willingly accept limits to their power over you.  It’s up to you to restrain their power with this law.

There is no shortcut.  No other “solutions” will work.  We must govern our government.  We must make politicians obey written laws, as written. 

Over the past hundred years our politicians have strayed so far from their legal boundaries that our servants have become our masters, and the history of that is well known, and very bad.

In reading the following, keep in mind that our ancestors knew that politics is inherently violent.  Nothing related to “government” happens without at least the threat of violence.  The IRS doesn’t pass the hat and say “please;” and you could get killed if you resist an arrest for a seatbelt violation.  Don’t forget this.  It is the reason we have constitutions …and make politicians swear to obey them.

One more note:  Lots of people agree with my thoughts on the constitution.  Yet I’ve been asked, “but how can we comply with the constitutions after drifting so far away from them?”

I know this is a paradigm shift, but the answer is staring you in the face.  If our politicians decide to go to war, then we go to war in a sudden, outrageously expensive fit of violence.  It doesn’t matter how much it hurts.  So why is it so hard to imagine suddenly doing what is proven to work – proven to promote peace, justice, prosperity and civility? 

We can enforce the constitution.  It can happen in one Election Day.  The first step is to want to.  

Should God choose to put me in the Governor’s office, I would put legislators on notice as soon as possible after I take the oath “to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States.”  I will enforce the constitutions as written.  No more, no less.  No fudging or cheating.  No more of that.

 

ARTICLE 1. Bill of Rights

Section 2. All people shall be secured in the natural right to worship ALMIGHTY GOD, according to the dictates of their own consciences.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

 

Let us be clear and truthful.  The freedom guaranteed in writing here is “to worship ALMIGHTY GOD”; well-understood at the time this was written to be the Judeo-Christian God of Abraham.  We have no specified right to worship the sun, a flag, money, basketball, Horus, or politicians.  We have no such enumerated constitutional rights. 

Read the constitutions (state and federal) and you’ll see that have no enumerated rights to pledge allegiance to a flag, to wash our cars or to play baseball.  These are rights nonetheless under our constitutions because, as you’ll see, government has no power over us not specifically granted by written constitutions. 

I’ll repeat because this is important.  We do have the right to worship statues and such because these rights are not specifically denied.  We, the people, own all rights and powers not taken away from us in writing.  You’ll see this written more clearly later.

This is a critical point.  It is the whole purpose of constitutions to establish the written, guaranteed, absolute limits of political power, not to describe the limits of your rights.

   

ARTICLE 1. Section 9. No law shall be passed, restraining the free interchange of thought and opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or print, freely, on any subject whatever: but for the abuse of that  right, every person shall be responsible.

  

Note that there are no provisos or amendments related to speech in airports, “free speech zones,” or any allowable limitations on our right to speak, write or print freely.  All limitations on our freedom to thus communicate are illegal usurpations of our rights.

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 11. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search or seizure, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized.

  

Is there anything unclear about this?  Ponder to what degree this is flouted daily.  A wide variety of officials from IRS, BATF, child and fire protection “services” believe they can kick in your door and/or snoop on you without warrant or probable cause.  These government agents are, according to this written law, criminals.

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 12. All courts shall be open; and every person, for injury done to him in his person, property, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law. Justice shall be administered freely, and without purchase; completely, and without denial; speedily, and without delay.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

 

A growing number of bureaucracies have their own legislative, executive and judicial powers like the IRS, DCS and, of course “Homeland Security.”  These bureaucracies illegally trample this section every minute of every day.

Also note that “Justice shall be administered freely, and without purchase.”  The words and meaning are clear.  Justice isn’t to be an arms race of money and influence.  Justice is to be at least as free as the tuition-free Common Schools in Article 8, which doesn’t guarantee a free education (hence the extra cost to parents for books); it mandates only that tuition is paid out of the public purse.  But justice is to be free!  It is criminal how we’ve perverted this.

   

ARTICLE 1. Section 19. In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts.

  

This section gives citizens the power to judge laws.  Judges, you’ll note, are never granted that power over the constitution.  Don’t let anyone tell you, as a juror, what you can and can’t do.  You, as a juror, have more power over the case at hand, the law, and the facts, than does anyone else in the courtroom.

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 21. No person’s particular services shall be demanded, without just compensation. No person’s property shall be taken by law, without just compensation; nor, except in case of the State, without such compensation first assessed and tendered.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

   

There’s a good argument that income tax violates this section (and also the prohibition against forced testimony against yourself).  But the “just compensation” clause here is, without any doubt, important when considering eminent domain and tax seizure practices.

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 22. The privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary comforts of life, shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting a reasonable amount of property from seizure or sale, for the payment of any debt or liability hereafter contracted: and there shall be no imprisonment for debt, except in case of fraud.

  

Lots of people do prison time for tax debt though no constitution allows this.  An uncountable number of residences are taken for taxes, though no constitution allows this.  And beside the aforementioned principle of many citizen rights and few government powers, this section of the Indiana Constitution specifically prohibits such abuse of citizens and their property. 

How can there be “just compensation” (Section 21) for taking a home; particularly when the taking itself is illegal?  How do we justify taking taxes for the Colts/Pacers/foreign corporations/endless whatevers when people lose their homes and life-time (in prison) to taxation?  What a crime!

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 23. The General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.

  

…So how come so many people and corporations get special privileges and immunities?  We use tax policy, in ugly particular, to give special people special deals all the time.  We use subsidies and handouts to discriminate between those we favor, and those we do not favor.  This is all illegal!

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 25. No law shall be passed, the taking effect of which shall be made to depend upon any authority, except as provided in this Constitution.

  

“…except as provided in this Constitution.”  This one is absolutely critical, so let’s deconstruct the wording a bit for clarity. 

“No law shall be passed…except” means that there cannot, legally, be any law written excepting the proviso of this law, “authority…as provided in this Constitution.” This is an unusual linguistic construction, so I’ll rephrase this in what I think is an accurate summary: For any law to be itself legal, its powers over us must be restrained to only the authority granted by this constitution.  Another way to say it could be, No law can be written that depends upon authority not specifically granted by this constitution.  Compare this to the federal Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”  In essence, both laws affirm, once again, that constitutions allow only the powers specifically granted in writing, and deny all others.  There is, in other words, no authority outside of what has been authorized by the constitutions, as written. 

Constitutions are the written warrants of violent power.  If they are to have any effect at all in securing our lives, liberties and property, they are to be obeyed, as written.  That is the law.  It is law that protects us from tyranny.  Breaking that law is a very serious crime.

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 26. The operation of the laws shall never be suspended, except by the authority of the General Assembly.

  

This further clarifies the above, again, that the constitution is the law, and remains in effect, whole, unless entirely suspended.  Either we have Rule of Law, or we have Rule of Tyrants, in other words.  The General Assembly wrote in its authority to become tyrannical, but it must be done legally!  In still other words, either you’ve got all your legally guaranteed rights, or you’ve got none of them. 

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 32. The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the State.

  

“The people shall have a right to bear arms...”  This is unequivocal.  No limitations are stated anywhere in this constitution; therefore none are allowed.

 

ARTICLE 1. Section 37. There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, within the State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

 

This use of “involuntary servitude” preceded the existence of income tax and even child support rules, so therefore means exactly and literally what it says.  There was a time when our founders considered income tax/ garnishment as, in fact, involuntary servitude.  After all, one literally submits one’s labor to the state through direct income taxation.  Do we need to amend this section?  Be careful.  As ever-more taxation is forcibly extracted from us (some estimates put the total cost of politics to be over 60% of our GDP), our place in the spectrum between serfdom (where serfs paid one day in seven to their masters) and slavery (total submission) is heading the wrong way fast.

 

ARTICLE 2. Section 6. Every person shall be disqualified from holding office, during the term for which he may have been elected, who shall have given or offered a bribe, threat, or reward, to procure his election.

  

Oh my.  Special favors are the fuel of the major parties.  It’d be hard work to chase down and prosecute all of these criminals.  But it would be wholesome fun.

 

ARTICLE 2. Section 9. No person holding a lucrative office or appointment under the United States or under this State is eligible to a seat in the General Assembly; and no person may hold more than one lucrative office at the same time, except as expressly permitted in this Constitution. Offices in the militia to which there is attached no annual salary shall not be deemed lucrative.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

 

In other words, you can’t be a member of the General Assembly if you’ve got a side job anywhere in government.  However, lots of public school teachers, police and paid fire department employees (government employees) hold office and thus have inherent conflicts of interest related to their power and position.  And while Indiana does not mandate an integrated bar (requiring that lawyers be members of a Bar Association), lawyers are agents of government with special privileges and immunities (see Article 7, Section 4). 

I’ve said that lawyers are to law what firemen are to fire, and I believe that’s typically true.  But it is even more true that lawyer-lawmakers are inherently the “fox guarding the henhouse” when it comes to conflicts of interest and dual office within government. 

Voters don’t seem to care; but legally, this is a problem.

   

ARTICLE 2. Section 10. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder of public moneys, shall be eligible to any office of trust or profit, until he shall have accounted for, and paid over, according to law, all sums for which he may be liable.

  

In other words, you can’t benefit from political largesse and hold office.  As with Section 9, this section is very problematic.  Since government has grown into such a tentacled behemoth, we have lots of officeholders who collect and hold tax money in the form of corporate subsidies/tax privileges/immunities.  This creates inherent conflicts of interest, obviously.  I wish voters stopped this, but it is also unconstitutional, and Indiana Governors swear an oath to act accordingly. 

 

ARTICLE 3. Section 1. The powers of the Government are divided into three separate departments; the Legislative, the Executive including the Administrative, and the Judicial: and no person, charged with official duties under one of these departments, shall exercise any of the functions of another, except as in this Constitution expressly provided.

                                      

Each of the three (only three; no bureaucratic branch) branches therefore has legally limited, unique powers and is divided against the others such that no branch gains too much power.  We’ve certainly messed up this one.  Our judges and Governors make law, our legislators and judges take executive power, and our Governors don’t execute the constitutions at all.  And bureaucracies transcend all branches.  As Governor I’d fix this on Day One. 

 

ARTICLE 4. Section 19. An act, except an act for the codification, revision or rearrangement of laws, shall be confined to one subject and matters properly connected therewith.

(As Amended November 8, 1960 November 5. 1974).

 

“An act… shall be confined to one subject…”  Do you suppose any legislator, or any Governor, has read this preceding law?  Have you read a bill lately?  Almost all bills become trundling dreadnaughts laden with unrelated pork, power and privilege such that you can hardly tell what the original law was supposed to do.  I would never sign such criminal nonsense into law, nor would I allow enforcement of such lawless law.

   

ARTICLE 4. Section 20. Every act and joint resolution shall be plainly worded, avoiding, as far as practicable, the use of technical terms.

 

Ditto much of my preceding comment.  “Plainly worded” means understandable without lawyers, decoder rings or judges. 

  

ARTICLE 5. Section 12. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and may call out such forces, to execute the laws, or to suppress insurrection, or to repel invasion.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

   

This is clearly not as we’ve been taught since the “federal” government stole so much power from states.  The Governor has real power!  We must keep it on a leash.

 

ARTICLE 5.  Section 16. The Governor shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.

(As Amended November 6, 1984).

 

This is what I am all about.  I will do Section 16 vigorously, and to the letter, in frustration of the wicked.

   

ARTICLE 8. Section 1. Knowledge and learning, general diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; it should be the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual scientific, and agricultural improvement; and provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall without charge, and equally open to all.

  

When this constitution was written, Common Schools were well understood to be the uniform (identical; same quality everywhere) and simple system of education promoted by Horace Mann as the “ladder of opportunity” putting poor kids on the same level as rich kids.  Ergo the state, non-local funding of such schools (see below).  Only by making identical schools funded equally across rich and poor areas would this make any sense at all given the generally bad nature of political education.  Now, as you know, we have a local/state hybrid that’s anything but equal and/or uniform.  Rich kids obviously get better schools; only now it’s with poor folks’ tax dollars; and all schools are now run by politicians and unions, making them an international embarrassment. 

And perversely, we make parents pay for books, yet we make taxpayers pay for exotic sporting facilities, cafeterias and other non-educational claptrap that’d make Horace Mann spin in his grave.

This is all so terribly criminal, with such grave, lasting consequences, that I’d make righting this wrong a very top priority.

 

ARTICLE 8.  Section 2. The Common School fund shall consist of the Congressional Township fund, and the lands belonging thereto;

The Surplus Revenue fund;

…The Bank Tax fund, and the fund arising from the one hundred and fourteenth section of the charter of the State Bank of Indiana;

…Taxes on the property of corporations, that may be assessed by the General Assembly for common school purposes.

               

No personal property tax allowed.

I’ll repeat. 

No personal property taxation is authorized for these Common Schools.  There goes half of your property tax bill.  But this also refers to a State Bank of Indiana, an artifact of Andrew Jackson’s defeat of the central, national bank.  We really should discuss central banking sometime…but not just yet.

 

ARTICLE 8.  Section 3. The principal of the Common School fund shall remain a perpetual fund, which may be increased, but shall never be diminished; and the income thereof shall be inviolably appropriated to the support of Common Schools, and to no other purpose whatever.

  

There was to be an inviolable trust (Section 7) to pay for all this, and we don’t have one. 

 

ARTICLE 10. Section 1. (a) The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for a uniform and equal rate of property assessment and taxation and shall prescribe regulations to secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal. The General Assembly may exempt from property taxation any property in any of the following classes:

 

This article is awful and should be scrapped.  It’s almost unenforceable (uniform and equal rate of property assessment can only be zero), and the “just valuation” clause renders the tax impossible because of the state’s illegal spending.  As Governor I could enforce only a property tax rate of zero.  Only that would fit the letter of this law.

   

ARTICLE 10.  Section 5. No law shall authorize any debt to be contracted, on behalf of the State, except in the following cases: to meet casual deficits in the revenue; to pay the interest on the State Debt; to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public defense.

  

Deficits in revenue are not the same as deficits in desired spending!  And bureaucracies do not transcend this law!  Most of our government debt is therefore illegal, no matter how it is described.  See Article 13.

 

ARTICLE 11.  Section 3. If the General Assembly shall enact a general banking law, such law shall provide for the registry and countersigning, by an officer of State, of all paper credit designed to be circulated as money; and ample collateral security, readily convertible into specie, for the redemption of the same in gold or silver, shall be required; which collateral security shall be under the control of the proper officer or officers of State.

 

It would require legislation, of course, but I’d love to see a debt-free currency issued in competition/replacement of Federal Reserve Notes.  I can only suggest, however, as the Governor has no power to create such an alternative currency. 

However, I could insist upon citizens’ right to barter using whatever unit of barter it chooses (such as the “Liberty Dollar” which was illegally banned and stolen in Indiana by our “federal” government agents).

  

ARTICLE 11.  Section 12. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank; nor shall the credit of the State ever be given, or loaned, in aid of any person, association or corporation; nor shall the State become a stockholder in any corporation or association.

(As amended November 6, 1984).

 

“…Nor shall the credit of the State ever be given, or loaned, in aid of any person, association or corporation…”  Read that a few times until it sinks in that all the credit, perks, loans, subsidies and tax breaks given to foreign corporations, sports teams, mall builders, politicians and the like…are illegal!

   

ARTICLE 11.  Section 13. Corporations, other than banking, shall not be created by special act, but may be formed under general laws.

  

Most people don’t know that corporations are government (not business) entities created to oppose the inherent accountability of a free market. I make this point because when you hear the phrase “unregulated free market” you’re hearing ignorant blather.  Regulations (including licensing) are almost always created to favor the politically connected, not the meek, poor and underserved.  It is political regulations, not the lack thereof, that cause havoc and crime.   

 

ARTICLE 13. Section 1. No political or municipal corporation in this State shall ever become indebted, in any manner or for any purpose, to an amount, in the aggregate, exceeding two per centum on the value of the taxable property within such corporation, to be ascertained by the last assessment for State and county taxes, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness; and all bonds or obligations, in excess of such amount, given by such corporations, shall be void: Provided, That in time of war, foreign invasion, or other great public calamity, on petition of a majority of the property owners in number and value, within the limits of such corporation, the public authorities in their discretion, may incur obligation necessary for the public protection and defense to such amount as may be requested in such petition.

(As Amended March 14, 1881).

 

This would be a joke if it weren’t so sad.  The phrase, “to an amount, in the aggregate,” apparently has no meaning to the increasing number of bureaucracies, each of whom believe they’re entitled to encumber taxpayers with their own 2% debt load.  Well, such obligations are void, and I would be quick to act on this.  Day one.

   

ARTICLE 15. Section 4. Every person elected or appointed to any office under this Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath or affirmation, to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States, and also an oath of office.

  

“…take an oath or affirmation, to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States…”  I’d be the first Governor to honor this oath in a very, very long time.  Please look again at the preceding.  The oath is to both state and federal constitutions.  This is no typo.  It is serious and very important.  To the state’s chief Executive, the phrase “to support” does not mean wave pom-poms and throw confetti.  It means to defend, enforce, to execute as law.

 

There’s nothing in the constitution to grant the state any authority over businesses (in licensure, rules, etc.) or individuals (our consumer choices, property, behaviors) that amount to so much cost, hassle and lost liberties as we now endure.  You may have been surprised by the detail in matters of school funding or banking policy…but there is no mention at all of DCS or roadblocks or wiretapping.  There is a reason for that.  Such powers are prohibited by law. 

Whatever is not specifically granted is completely denied.

So, when your money is taken for spending never allowed by the preceding constitution, it’s theft.  Your rights are taken without any legal basis at all.  Most of what government does to us is illegal.  That is crime committed against you, the State of Indiana, the nation of the United States of America, and against the ideology and wisdom of our wisest predecessors.

All of that would stop should you choose to enforce the constitutions and Rule of Law for which so many Americans fought and died. 

If you choose to vote for any other candidate, you will not get the benefits of law and order under this constitution.  That is fact.  If you vote for me, you would at least have a chance to live under the constitutions, with the peace, prosperity and liberty proven to follow. 

It is your choice.  Choose wisely.

 

 

 

 

4 July Done Proper

Do you want to celebrate 4 July in a way that’d do our founders proud? 

It’s been a year since our national-news-making tax protest on the Governor’s lawn, and we’re worse off than ever.  Our politicians have strayed even further from the laws that protect us from them (the constitutions). 

So this time, we’re not going to be distracted by the tax policy sub-issue.  We’ll no longer nibble at the branches of the problem of lawbreaking lawmakers.  We’re not going to fuss over symptoms – we aim to cure the disease of ungoverned government.

We will demand Rule of Law under Constitutions.  We will demand that our politicians obey the constitutions, as written.  No “interpretations,” no ifs, ands or buts.

Same place as last year …the Governor’s Mansion on North Meridian in Indianapolis from around 10 to 11am.

Contact me at andrewhorning@hotmail.com if you’re interested in making history.  Again. 

Give me reason to hope…please!

I first started proposing property tax repeal and serious government reform about twelve years ago, and never stopped.  For several months before last summer’s July 4 property tax protest I held press conferences (like this one for an Indiana Fair Tax) proposing a workable replacement for property tax.  So I suppose I should be happy that so many folks started demanding changes…and got some.  But I’m not happy about what we got.  I’m not happy at all.

I don’t expect more from career politicians, mind you.  They do what comes natural to them.  In fact I suspect that Governor Daniels really meant well.  But he’s a career politician trained in law; he’s unable to do what’s right.  After all, lawyers are to law what fireman are to fire. 

Several other politicians involved in this proposal also meant well, I am certain.  But they will never, ever accept the just limitations of power imposed by our constitution.  If citizens don’t hold them to constitutions, if we do not snap that leash onto them, they’ll not do what’s right, legal, and proven to work.

It’s frustrating that we keep voting for these political creatures and their certain result.  It’s disheartening that we keep tolerating what they do to us.  Over and over and over again.  I’m getting really, really depressed.

The “tax reform” just passed is taking us further and faster into the wrong direction.  By proposing we amend the constitution that politicians flout, they insult and harm us greatly…and few of us even know it.  And if the Kernan-Shepard Commission gets its way (I actually heard a news pundit say it’s the only way to make the tax reform work), we’ll funnel still more power into fewer hands on the theory that such “streamlining” will save money in government the way “consolidation” saved money in schools.

You know how this will turn out, right?  You know the history of massive power in few human hands, right?

My appeals for restoration of the Indiana Constitution have been printed and broadcast in several ways and places; in newspapers across the state, in the Indiana Policy Review Journal, and on this blog.  Lots of people have heard/read these, and no one has presented any serious argument against them.

Why is it so hard for us to ask for what we really need?  Why do we keep nibbling at the fast-growing branches of our problem when we’re running out of time to strike the root? 

Do we really think that failure is not an option?  Do we really think we can keep heading in this direction forever? 

If somebody sees a silver lining, a ray of hope, a life raft or even a distant speck of light in any of this, please let me know at once.  I’d really like to hope that we’re not swirling toward the drainpipes…

The Tax Contracts are Broken

I wrote a piece for the Winter Journal of the Indiana Policy Revew Foundation.  You may need to register (for free) in order to read it, but here it is.

It starts on page 17.

Please, start writing yourself.  Send letters to the editor; they’re usually much more powerful than the letters your public servants throw away.  It’s better to let politicians learn about protests in the newspaper, if you know what I mean…

It’s time to hold more than just their feet to the fire.  If they don’t obey the laws that protect us from them, why should we honor the laws that protect them from us?