From the November 2002 Idaho Observer:

By what authority do American governments create villeins obligated to pay chevage?

by Augustus Blackstone

Elevenscore and six years ago, our forebears declared for all time the self-evident truth that governments are instituted among Men to secure to those Men certain unalienable Rights, among which are the Rights of Liberty, Life and the pursuit of Happiness (property and inheritence thereof).

Eleven years later a unified nation was brought forth on this continent, the Constitution for which begins with: WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to....secure the Blessings of Liberty (Rights) to ourselves and our Posterity...” Again, it was declared that the senior controlling purpose of every government office, of every civil servant in this country is to secure the Rights of the People.

This principle is an outgrowth of and has its roots in the Magna Charta, the foundation of English constitutional Liberty. And as such, is in direct opposition to the (abolished) feudal system of tenure, villenage, and chevage.

Black's Law Dictionary (4th Edition) defines “tenure” as: “The mode or system of holding lands or tenements in subordination to some superior, which, in the feudal ages, was the leading characteristic of real property. Tenure is the direct result of feudalism...”

Black's defines “villeinage” as: “A servile kind of tenure belonging to lands or tenements, whereby the tenant was bound to do all such services as the lord commanded, or were fit for a villein to do.” Black's further defines “Pure villenage” as, “A base tenure, where a man holds upon terms of doing whatsoever is commanded of him,....(being) always bound to an uncertain service.”

Black's defines “villein” as: “A person attached to a manor who was substantially in the condition of a slave....and was, in most respects, a subject of property belonging to [his lord].”

Black's defines “chevage” as: “A sum of money paid by villeins to their lords in acknowledgement of their bondage...When paid to the king, it was called subjection.”

In the event a civil servant tries to tell you that one cannot quit the social security system or terminate property tax or abate inheritance tax, it would be appropriate to ask them formally (in writing) when and by what authority was the feudal system of tenure, villenage and/or chevage re-instituted in this nation/state/county?

Do not treat this as a frivolous matter. The question and its answer(s) have serious consequences, It is entirely possible that formal criminal charges may need be filed against certain civil servants under Title 18, Section 1581 of the U.S. Code, which states:

(a) Whoever holds or returns any person to a condition of peonage, or arrests any person with the intent of placing him in or returning him to a condition of peonage, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years or both.

(b) Whoever obstructs, or attempts to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents the enforcement of this section, shall be liable to the penalties prescribed in subsection (a).

Black's Law Dictionary defines “peonage” as: “A condition of enforced (involuntary) servitude, by which the servitor is restrained of his liberty and compelled to labor in liquidation of some debt or obligation, real or pretended, against his will.”

Black's defines “involuntary servitude” as: “The condition of one who is compelled by force, coercion, or imprisonment, and against his will, to labor for another, whether he is paid or not.”

Black's also defines “involuntary payment” as: “One obtained by fraud, oppression, or extortion, or to avoid the use of force to coerce it, or to obtain the release of the person or property from detention.”

Our forebears had something further to say about a government's basic obligation to secure the Rights of the People: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...”

It was also said by Benjamin Franklin that those who would exchange their Liberty for security deserve neither.

More recently it has been said that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Is it?