Vote with Your Wallet Against the IRS

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”   -Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand wrote the above quote in December 1963. As a result of the recent behavior by the IRS, I fear that our current dusk will turn to into darkness if we don’t take action now!

Before I joined The Atlas Society as CEO, I was a serial entrepreneur (since the age of 19). I truly enjoyed life through the creation of companies that would solve new problems in interesting ways while working by choice with employees, investors, vendors, and customers. My last venture in the healthcare field showed explosive growth, became profitable years ago, and worked to the mutual advantage of all involved–free from lawsuits or complaints.

Now more than ever people need the intellectual ammunition to defend their lives, liberty, and property.

Since the 2008 election, my company’s money was seized by the Attorney General for the alleged action of a third party (I had to prove at my expense that they had made the error –which I did).  I lost key functionality for our product offering due to the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank, and have seen my healthcare business frozen due to the existential threat that Obamacare will make my business model illegal under law. I have experienced nothing more soul-crushing than the dismantling of productive achievement by arbitrary government forces.

I joined the Atlas Society as CEO to fight for my right and the right of other individuals to have the freedom to pursue happiness while recognizing that we live in reality and have the ability to determine our own outcomes based on our efforts.

I now fear that our The Atlas Society’s 22 years of great work is threatened by the overexertion of government force. As a non-profit, we, and other similar groups, face targeting by the IRS. According to multiple news sources, it has now been confirmed that as early as August 2010, senior IRS officials in Washington DC were aware that the IRS had begun targeting applications for tax-exempt status from groups that used the following words in their name or in their descriptions of issues that the groups addressed:

• Tea Party
• Patriot
• Government debt
• Government spending
• Taxes
• Criticize how the country is being run
• Make America a better place to live
• Educating on the constitution and bill of rights
  

To make matters worse, in certain cases, the IRS asked applicants for donor lists and detailed information from their Facebook pages.

As reported by  Reuters , you can see clearly that the IRS operated as it pleased, as evidenced by the shifting criteria they used for applicants.

• Prior to July 2011: the IRS used keywords for screening.
• July, 2011 – January 2012: “organizations involved with political, lobbying, or advocacy.”
• After January 2012: it was changed again to “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the constitution and bill of rights, social economic reform/movement”

Clearly the government is acting as it sees fit while targeting politically incorrect non-profits through excessive paperwork and tyrannical investigation techniques.

Given these horrifying trends, I question how long The Atlas Society can continue our mission to promote Objectivism: the philosophy of reason, individualism, achievement, and freedom originated by Ayn Rand.

Since our founding, we have long understood that our liberty is at risk and recognize that now more than ever people need the intellectual ammunition to defend their lives, liberty, and property.

What would you give to see politicians citing Ayn Rand to support curbs on the power of government –as Sen. Ted Cruz did recently ? To see government spending, entitlements, and regulations continually reduced in the name of the individual’s right to live his own life?

What would you give to see thousands of college students clamoring for courses on the ideas of Atlas Shrugged and Objectivism, creating demand for Objectivist teachers and scholars?

What would you give to see Objectivism become a recognized personal creed, with adherents in the hundreds of thousands, then millions, embracing the rational, productive, benevolent spirit of Galt’s Gulch, forming networks of engagement and mutual support based on shared values?

I urge you to donate to The Atlas Society now through our  online contribution page  to say “no” to the actions of the IRS and create a new dawn through the support reason, freedom, individualism, and achievement. No amount is too large or small.

Please share this message to everyone you can!

In liberty,

Aaron Day, CEO

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