Since the founding of this nation, American's have cherished their right to personal and financial privacy. Article IV of the Bill of Rights states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

But that right to privacy no longer exists in this nation. As a common practice, the police (local, state and national) set up random road blocks for routine checks on drivers to ascertain whether their driver's license is valid, to see if their insurance papers are in order, to facilitate seat belt enforcement, to see if they have too much money on their persons, and other dubious and unconstitutional searches and/or seizures.

Even if this was the extent of government's invasion into our privacy, it would be a very dangerous trend. But this type of behavior is really only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. It is symptomatic of the current mind-set of government. It may come as a shock that to you that our government now has access to our bank accounts, stock accounts, medical files, spending pattern profiles, credit card charges, movie rental records, grocery store purchases, business records, automobile purchases, television purchases, computer purchases, and endless other personal data files related to our lifestyles that they've collected in various ways, by both government agencies all over the country and, for that matter, all over the world.

It will come as a surprise to many Americans to learn that in 1974, under the Privacy Act, the government was required to publish an annual census of files containing personal information. However, many files were excluded because they contained information relating to "national security" as others were not required to report for various reasons. As reflected in the words of Robert B. Bellair, counsel to the National Commission o the Confidentiality of Heath Records, "The Privacy Act, it turns out, is not protection at all. You can drive a truck through the Privacy Act." Still our government reported that more than four billion files were being kept on U.S. citizens. That's more than 16 files for every American.

If this was the extent of the government's invasion of our privacy while their would be much to fear; it would be a situation from which we could deal and recover. Unfortunately, this is only the beginning. The tyrannical invasion of privacy continues on in layer after Orwellian layer.

It is there the intent of this message to examine in brief the invasion of our privacy and the scrapping of Article IV of the Bill of Rights in America, and with it our constitutional protection from government gone mad.

In the early days of this nation almost everything that pertained to an individual's personal and financial life was contained in files in their homes, a safety deposit box, or with a trusted attorney or accountant.

That began to change with the advent of the computer and other related technology. Prior to the electronic age, snooping by government, or any other entity was difficulty, time consuming, and very expensive.

As the electronic boom came to the United States, entrepreneurs were quick to realize that tremendous profits could be realized from collecting, storing, and sorting selected data on individuals. Then, for a fee, these entrepreneurs would make this information available to interested parties.

While many believe that this was not part of a conspiracy, rather a result of market forces, there are those who believe, that, to a large extent, market forces are conveniently directed, if not controlled.

Whether this information collection and distribution was part of a conspiracy, or just random market forces, is frankly irrelevant; inasmuch as your government was quick to seize the opportunity to begin collecting information and intelligence on millions of Americans.

The larger picture of the potential abuse of power and tyranny by our government in this information age is alarming. And for those who understand that this information is used both by government and by private industry to control almost every aspect of our lives, the picture presented here may act as a catalyst for action; but I doubt it. Whether this information is used by banks, savings and loans, credit bureaus, or the federal government or whoever, it is very definitely a control factor in our daily lives.

Many people believe that this is still a free country; and to a very limited extent, they are correct. However, given a few more years of unchecked invasion of our personal and financial privacy by our government and powerful credit reporting bureaus, what little freedom we have left may be lost forever.

While many institutions such as banks sales organizations, and even churches access information on us, the government is the largest and most dangerous data bank user in the country. There are currently 85 national data-bases that use information gleaned from these info-centers to build and update the files.

This most common reaction of individuals toward this type of information is incredulity. For many, particularly those of the older generation, the government is supposed to be the servant of the people It is unfathomable for them that their own government would be keeping detailed personal records on them; let alone spying on their personal lives. This is a myth, however, that the evidence shall soon dispel.

A reasonable question that one might ask is: What type of records does our government keep on us? This list would include such items as: motor vehicle registration, professional and driver's licenses, social security records, welfare payments, school records, medical histories, unemployment benefits, court records (birth, marriage, and death certificates), tax return (local, state, and federal), deeds, passports, census records, FBI and police records, military records, and veteran's benefits, just to name a few.

Of course, there are scores of other sources of information on us to which the government has access. In many cases, there need not even be a court order or warrant to access this information. A few of these would include: insurance company files, bank files, and transaction records, clubs and organizational memberships, credit bureaus, brokerage houses and investment funds, genealogical bureaus, car dealers, mail order houses, montage companies, credit card companies, doctors, and many others, including our churches and/or ministers.

As technology advances and computers become more and more sophisticated with artificial intelligence, our government, with all its inefficiency, keeps on the cutting edge of this technology. In fact, a new generation of governmental computers are currently being installed (at our expense) that have the capability of "talking" to each other. This will compare and compile data from a multitude of data sources on? Guess who? Us!

According to author Mark Nestman in his book, "Achieving Personal and Financial Privacy in a Public Age," a Treasury Department intelligence unit is quoted as saying that the capabilities of his division are a lot like "Big Brother."

Most people believe that occasionally a government employee or agency does go too far and uses the personal and financial records of an individual for their own purposes or to harass or intimidate an individual. We wish it were true that this only happens occasionally. However, judging by the sheer numbers of individuals whose lives have been disrupted, dismembered, and destroyed by the government on all levels, one would have to conclude that his is a common practice.

Last year alone our government facilitated over half a million confiscations in America. They seized billions of dollars in assets and over 80% of the people from whom they seized these assets were never charged with a crime. For those who have charges brought against them, most times the charges were subsequently dropped for lack of evidence, which means they were probably bogus in the first place.

One might reasonably ask: How does the government get away with randomly going through our personal and financial records? Based upon what authority does a Treasury or Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer detain an individual in an airport? How can they, based upon some nebulous standard, determine to not only detain that individual, but as is usually the case, even seize their assets, which usually includes cash?

And this is just the beginning of the horror show. The vast majority of people whose assets are confiscated end up never being charged, but yet are the objects of a massive government probe into their lives. By the way, if this happens one can basically forget about getting his or her money back. In this type of confiscation, one must go to court and prove that he or she is innocent of any wrong doing in order to get their assets back. But how does one go to court and prove oneself innocent of a crime for which they have never been charged? So much for Articles V, VI, VII of the Bill of Rights.

How can the government do this? What law gives our government the authority to suspend our constitutionally protected rights so they can do just about anything they want, leaving us with little or no recourse (and if we fight too hard they will simply burst into your home some night, and kill everyone in the building - By mistake of course, and nothing ever happens to them). There is no law! Article I of the Bill of Rights states that, "Congress shall make no law..." They don't have the right, but they do have the power. Yet, this tyranny has been introduced so subtly and has been so cunningly sold to the American public that without us even being aware of it, most of our Constitution, including the very important Article V which makes that document the supreme law of the land, has been voided without so much as an, "If you please."

America was born from the bonds of tyranny. The monarchy of England had pushed the colonists too far. They had stolen their right to religious freedom, seized their property without due process of law, and virtually made it impossible for them to pursue happiness. At that time, perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back was the tea tax. After all, the average colonist paid less than a dollar year in taxes, according to some historians. It was not the amount, it was the principle that they refused to allow. The principle was government had no right to interfere to seek to control the private lives of individuals. Frankly, what our own government is doing to us right now would make King George blush with envy in comparison to what the government did to the citizens prior to our separation from Great Britain.

This first attempt by our own government at mass population control began in the late 1800's. An income tax was passed, which was summarily ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. But that was not to be the end of it. There were powerful forces at work that wanted the income tax and the accompanying power to control our lives. So it was that the government created the underground economy in 1913. How did the government start the underground economy? Simple!

In 1913, despite the fact that it was never legally ratified by the states, and over the objection of Secretary of State, Philander Knox, Congress illegally wrote into law the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which gave our government the right to tax income. The XVI Amendment was only properly ratified by four states: North Dakota, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

The income tax was only to be used as a tax on corporations; however, later when it became a tax on individual income, the top rate was only 5% and was paid only by those earning more than $500,000 per year, which still is a tidy sum, even by today's standards. But our government was not satisfied with the ill-gotten gains of a never ratified Constitutional Amendment and a small, almost unobtrusive, tax. By the 1930s, the top tax rate had soured to almost 70%, and inevitably individuals were looking to reduce their ominous tax burden; some by legal means of tax avoidance and others by illegal means of tax evasion.

With the advent of tax evaders came the government's wrath against such lawlessness. Never mind that government was operating unconstitutionally. They were not going to stand for any nonsense, and government's policies began to shift to discourage defections from the income tax system, which by its own code and statute was suppose to be voluntary. It still remains so today, but if one chooses not to volunteer, the government may seize their money and property.

Fortunately for the government, they were able to maneuver us into World War II just in time to give them the perfect excuse and perfect tool under the guise of an emergency situation. It was called tax withholding. Withholding is till with us today. It is that process whereby the government takes more money from our paycheck than they should so that they can use our money interest-free, thereby forcing us to voluntarily file a return and politely ask them if we can have the "overpayment" amount back.

And just in case some bureaucrat made a mistake and didn't withhold enough of our income, thereby denying our government the interest-free use of our money for the better part of a year, they will assess us penalties and interest to make up for the money they couldn't make on what they didn't steal from us in the withholding process.

Naturally, World War II was expensive. The nation went hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. Economists actually began to speak of the black market created by the rationing days of World War II and following as a measurable part of the economy. Something had to be done about these tax evaders. Gradually, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was given broader powers and less accountability was demanded of them. Of course, the ultimate goal was to make sure that the taxpayer didn't get their hands on the money until after the IRS had a chance to get their cut first. They have called this proposed system the "return free system."

Obviously, for this to become completely effective, we will have to have almost a total dictatorship in America. But give them time! Plans are already underway to lead America into a cashless society. All transactions will then take place electronically, and cash and the privacy electronically, and cash and the privacy afforded to individuals who use the system will forever disappear. It reminds one of something concerning this subject: "...that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:17)

By the 1980s the deficit, which government had caused, was looming as a storm on the horizon. They had to do something about it. And so it was for the good of the country that Congress passed and Reagan signed The Deficit Reduction Act of 1984. For the first time the federal government  was able to legally use computer matching; however, this previously illegal act of matching different data files to build files and spy on American taxpayers had been going on since 1977, but now it was legitimate.

While this system was used by the Social Security Administration, Customs, Selective Service, and the bigger winner in the match game sweepstakes was the IRS. Under these broad, new powers, the IRS became the largest collection agency in the world. By 1991, the IRS was able to withhold nearly $400 million from individuals, who for one reason or another, owed money to the federal government. It also withheld over $600 million from individuals who were behind in their child support payments. At first blush one might logically think that this is a good thing to do. Let's get after these deadbeat debtors and delinquent fathers and mothers.

But remember three things: first, the government was never authorized in the Constitution to loan money to individuals; second, there is no constitutional provision for the government to be a collection agency for child support payments; and finally, if the government is able to track down fathers who are delinquent in their child support payments, what or who else can they track down if they so choose?

But would the IRS use these broad powers to oppress the citizenship of the United States? We can count on it! In the name of "law and order," let's look at some of the outrageous abuses of power they have waged against Americans:

1). IRS agents detained seven children at a Detroit area day care center, changed the locks on the doors, then called the children's parents. The children were released only after their parents paid fees due the school that the IRS applied to a tax levy.

2). An Alaska couple, disputing a tax assessment, had it tripled. To enforce the assessment, IRS agents seized the couple's car while they were in it. Smashing the windows, the agents dragged the couple from the vehicle, leaving them bleeding on the pavement as a tow truck hauled their vehicle away.

3). Falsified versions of a form U.S. Senator's tax records were leaked to his opponent in the midst of a hotly contested re-election campaign. Coincidentally, the Senator was investigating the IRS.

4). Six IRS agents raided a Georgia convenience store and seized not only the store's assets, but property owned by it customers. A U.S. District Judge later ruled that the owners were victims of "bureaucratic incompetence, aggravated by hostility and arrogance."

5). The IRS sought to exhume the body of a taxpayer who died in the course of an audit in order to verify the victim's identity. Said the executor of the estate, "They're just mad because he had the audacity to die without settling his account."

6). A woman objected to the confiscation of vehicles on her property by armed men who refused to identify themselves, but who turned out to be IRS agents accompanied by armed U.S. Marshals. Seven months pregnant with twins, she resisted, and was beaten to the ground with the butt of an automatic weapon. One twin was born dead, the other brain damaged. Several weeks later, the agent in charge of this operation received a commendation.

7). The IRS fined a Virginia businessman $400 for failing to pay two cents on his $22,894 payroll withholding tax bill.

8). The IRS ordered a police commission in a small town in Pennsylvania to pay $700 on a one cent underpayment in its deductions from employee paychecks.

9). The IRS confiscated the bank account of a nine-year old girl to pay a part of a tax claim against her grandmother and the $20.25 life savings of a 12-year old boy because of his parent's tax debt.

This is the Jewish government in action, not the American people's government.