TARGETED Chapter 22 The Solution (A True Story)

                                                 ----ooo22ooo----

                                                 The Solution

              That brings us to the “solution”.  I thought that if attention could be raised as to the misuse of power by a doomed class action, what we could do if we thought it through a little better.  The first class action in the 1980s was not entirely inspired.  It was a reaction to a bad set of circumstances. It was a push and they pushed back, hard.  I know what you are thinking but bear with me.  Before I typed the first word, before I opened a book, or searched for an “antidote”, I got on my knees and prayed. 

              The answer was very strange at first.  I am a great believer in a personal God.  You know that near paranoia when people think you spend just a bit too much time talking to yourself, even worse when you seem to be getting the answers.  I honestly believe that there is an inspired plan, that someone divine is out there watching over us, that He really cares, and ultimately has the power to do something about it.  So, armed with that belief I embarked on a journey I could never have imagined.  I hit the books and began thinking through the problem.

              First of all I was reminded that you can’t sue the United States government, or any part thereof, without first getting “permission”.  The permission is already in the statutes. You just have to find it. 

              I also realized there was a very convenient law that fended off any, and I mean any, lawsuit that would dare to demand financial reparations from the government.  It’s called the Anti-Injunction Act.  It is a wall against which the standard of qualifications is so high that most lawsuits fail the first day.  Then in a moment an amazing inspiration came to me.

              How about if we didn’t ask for any money at all?  I had to admit it went against everything that I had been instinctively knew as an attorney. It went against all that I trained from my legal infancy in law school to the rigors of the courtroom battlefield where a matured and seasoned attorney would respond without taking another breath shouting “are you crazy!”.  Even the Department of Justice wouldn’t know what to do with it.  How would they quantify that which does not represent any money in an award for damages.  For many it simply did not compute. There would still be the twin hurdles of jurisdiction and venue to overcome, and the otherwise messy issue of whether the case presented a federal question worthy enough to meet the case and controversy requirement.  I decided to ask Delbert.

              “So what do you think of my idea?”

              “Are you crazy?”  Predictable response. Delbert didn’t hold back.

              “Perhaps.”  I knew he would never-the-less be intrigued.

              “How are you going to live?”

              He had a point.  “Well we couldn’t charge a fee.”

              “Why not!”

              “It wouldn’t seem right.”  I didn’t have the courage to tell him that I had it on very high authority that this was precisely what I needed to do.  “It would somehow take away from the purity of the exercise.”

              “The what? Did I actually hear you say the purity of the exercise?”

              I had to admit when spoken aloud in plain English it was a hard sell even for me, but deep down it was a commitment I couldn’t shake. During the preparation stage of the case I had retired to the BYU law library (the internet then in 1994 for legal research was both expensive and somewhat ineffective so I resorted to the hard copy, the “hold it in your hand” thing called books).  It was during the review of a relatively large and growing stack of books that when I parted the wall they had become and I encountered an old professor of mine directly across from me.  At first I was taken by surprise because I certainly did not expect to see him.  The funny thing was he did not expect to see me either.  We were good friends so the moment was spontaneous. 

              “Working on a big case?” asked President Rex Lee.

              “Yes.  I am sorry I didn’t see you President Lee.  I was…”

              “Well so was I. It would seem we are very focused at our work.”

              I was aware that President Lee was not a well man.  In fact he died about a year and one half later in 1996.  Fortunately I was able to have a very meaningful conversion with him.  We talked about the fact that as the former Solicitor General of the United States it was his privilege to quite literally defend the Constitution.   He told me that it had been a promise in his Patriarchal Blessing that he would be one of those chosen to defend the Constitution in the last days.  I informed him that I too have that same promise in my blessing.  He actually gave me a sympathetic laugh and warned me that I had no idea in what form that service would be required of me.  He also told me to just go with what the Spirit told me and not to be surprised.   I really miss President Lee.

              I began to find what I thought was a way to make the class action work.  First of all I would need a concept.  Without an idea there would be nothing to discuss.  Without a factual foundation no one would be able to “feel” the cause it represented.  I returned to Delbert.

              “I need a cause.”

              “Be very careful about causes.”  Delbert was quite serious.

              “What do you mean?”

              “A cause can be good, or…”

              “I get it.  No tax protestors.”  I was suddenly getting a very strong idea that for the purity aspect of the class action to work it would require that there be no “contaminates”. We had to control who came in and not to merely provide a platform for a very public discussion about the diverse and impossible to control protestors who would attempt, if given center stage, to make their particular issue the focus. 

              “You need a protocol,” Trudy said as she passed.

              “Brilliant!” I shouted. Now we were getting somewhere. Then I had to ask. “What did you have in mind?”

              “Well first of all you have to discourage tax protestors from even applying.”

              I suddenly realized the walls were not stopping my conversations with Delbert.  What else had she heard?

              “How do you propose we do that?”

              “Simple.  Use big bold letters at the very beginning of your invitation that this is not a platform for protestors and they need not apply.”

              Invitation? We of course had a fax machine.  Not too much was done then on the internet.  It was just too costly.  Funny how I could not bring myself to believe the internet would actually work someday.  It was a complicated mess.  We had to define our class and let them know that we were doing this for them. 

              I began, “Before we can begin we have to figure out who we represent and why it’s even necessary.  As of this moment we have Mary, a widow who was cheated out of her house, falsely accused and they got away with it.  Her death cannot be for nothing.”

              “We have the family chased out of their house into the rain with no way to even get to safety or shelter, and had it not been for his sister across town who came to the rescue, they would have been homeless living on the street.  We have the worker, when every time he got a job the IRS seized all of his paycheck, 100%, and left him nothing to live on. Then they created such a stink with his employer that he was fired after the first couple paychecks forcing him to move on.  He also lived in a hedge by the freeway and his family left him.  All of these people need a fair shake. That’s it!”

              Delbert perked up.  “What’s it?”

              I jumped into my chair and began typing on my computer.  “The common factor.”

              “The common what?”

              “It was right there in front of us the whole time.  When agents act under color of authority and violate Constitutional rights they exceed their mandate from Congress. They go beyond Congressional intent.  We the people have a right to be treated equally under the law.  We will find people who have been mistreated, targeted by the federal government, and as a class seek injunctive and declaratory relief.”

              “How so?” Trudy was intrigued. It was an honest question.

              “By asking the Court to mandate that the IRS step back when their behavior becomes abusive. And how will we determine whether or not it is abusive? … I heard you ask before you said it…Because by comparing it with the way the law reads they will be exercising authority beyond the intent of Congress that made the law applicable to them in the first place.  It is necessary to bring it as a class because this behavior is not isolated, it is now public policy and very wide spread.  We can show a pattern of abuse.”

              “How we, I mean you, going to show a pattern of abuse?” Delbert remained cynical, but in a healthy sort of way.

              “The Administrative Procedures Act.”

              “I don’t follow.”

            “You will my friend, you will.”

Special attention:  In an effort to tell my story and to spread the word about how targeting has impacted on freedom in this country, it is imperative that this story reach the masses, and in order to do that I need your help.  Please forward this story on to as many others as you can.   My following is now approaching 5,700 but the possibilities are only now beginning to be felt.  The one thing that keeps targeting in check is public opinion.  There truly is power in the People.  Please help by spreading the word. Thanks Paul. [email protected]