Every Man Under His Vine

Elijah had the new pump handle about in place when the arrow hit him just below his right knee. Next thing he knew, Indian and pony were nearly on top of him. Elijah caught that buck right ‘cross the head with the pump handle. Knocked him off his pony and laid him flat on the ground. The other two saw that, turned ‘round, and galloped straight back to the reservation”. “Elijah loaded that knocked-out Indian into the hay wagon, drove into Jasper, and dumped him  off – still out-cold - at the sheriff’s office”.

“Elijah limped a little from that arrow wound for the rest of his life. Some called it the last Indian war in Jasper County”.

Bob lights his pipe, “Good story, Billie. You make it sound like you was there”. “Say, was old Elijah Charlie’s great-great grandfather or his great-great-great grandfather”? “Don’t know, there was so much family over all those years. I get’em mixed up”. Carl asks, “How in the hell did you ever get all these stories outa Charlie Cox. I never knew him to say more than fifteen words in a row at any one time”.

“I guess it’s because he knows I like hearin’ those old stories, and maybe because I ask him to tell’em”.

  Farmers ‘round Jasper don’t get to town too often. They only come in when they run out of propane, need parts for a broken tractor, or run out of tobacco. They don’t need much, and they don’t own much - except for their land. Trips to town always include a stop at Trudy’s Café which is conveniently located between feedstore and barbershop, and directly across from the Massey-Ferguson dealership.

            “Warm up that coffee”? “Why sure . . . Say, miss Trudy, you got any more of that rhubarb pie left”? “Dang, Billie, you gonna get fat as a hog you keep eating all that pie”. Billie gives Carl a sideways glance singing hoarsely, “Mind your own business, then you won’t be mindin’ mine”.

            Bob Mitchel comments, “Hank Williams sure did sing the truth ‘bout that”.

            Carl Patten, and Bob Mitchel, along with many other farmers in the area grew up on land farmed by their families for several generations. Billie Lang did not. Billie is younger by twenty years than the other two men. His main job is mechanic for Sy Taylor’s Garage, but he also farms twelve acres he bought from Charlie Cox. Whenever he saves enough, he buys another acre. Billie has worked harvests for Charlie and his wife Alice since high school. The Cox’s have no children of their own – they’ve come to think of Billie as their son. So does Billie.

            Billie’s parents were killed in a car crash while he was still in grade school. His maternal aunt, Lucy Burns, took him in. Aunt Lucy’s lifelong friend was Alice (Chisum) Cox. That’s how Billie came to know Charlie Cox. Lucy’s family were farmers, too, but unlike the Cox’s, they leased the land they farmed.

            When the Cox’s came to visit, Lucy and Alice usually talked about happy memories of their childhood life on the farm. Billie listened. Charlie rarely talked unless he was asked a question. Billie asked him a lot of questions.

            In the slow, long course of several years of answering Billie’s questions Charlie unfolded many years of Jasper County history as well his own lifetime of struggle with bad weather, bad luck, and the satisfaction of coaxing life out of reluctant land.

            Billie was enchanted. He wanted to be just like Charlie Cox. He wanted to be a farmer. He wanted to own his own land. He even daydreamed about passing his land on to his children and grandchildren – the same way Charlie had inherited his land from the generations of his own family.

            Of course, he would have to work for it.

            Charlie, in his quiet way, was charmed by Billie’s enthusiasm. He helped the kid as much as he could. He hired Billie whenever he needed an extra hand at harvest time or for occasional machine repair. Billie learned while he earned. He didn’t earn enough to buy land. That’s why he got a job at Sy Taylor’s Garage. He was good at mechanics, but he didn’t love it. He wanted to be a farmer. One day he had enough to buy one acre. He bought it from Charlie Cox – at a price a little below market value. Charlie helped him plant that first acre and helped him harvest it, too, gave advice and loaned Billie all the equipment he needed. It took a few years, but in time Billie was farming twelve acres. Now he could honestly call himself a farmer, even though he still needed the paycheck from Sy Taylor’s Garage.

            When he joined the farmers at Trudy’s it was as a fellow farmer – not as a Mechanic.

            Jasper County farmers, like farmers everywhere, rarely socialize, but when they do, Trudy’s Café is where they meet; a casual forum, a few hours devoted to farm talk, local news, rumors and philosophical musing – all washed down with Trudy’s coffee and pie. Billie was proud to be a member of this exclusive club.

            Through the window they see Dale Johnson pullin’ up. “Hey, Dale, You get a new pick-up”? “Hell no, just washed it”. Laughter all ‘round.

            “You boy’s hear ‘bout Charlie Cox’s trouble”? “No”. “What”? “County’s takin’ his farm – said he was ‘delinquent’ on his property tax”. “delinquent”? “That’s a helluva thing to say ’bout a man as honest as Charlie Cox”. “Charlie never owed nuthin’ to nobody”. “Well, that ain’t the way the County sees it. They’ gonna auction off everything, end of the month”.

            “You know ‘bout this, Billie”?

            Billie, stunned mute, slowly shakes his head, no.

            “How’d it ever get to this point”? “Our grandad’s grandads plowed farms outa hard prairie. Didn’t hear no talk’ ‘bout property tax back then”. County was just happy somebody was turnin’ dirt into crops. Now they think they own everything. “Guess they do. They got all the say, we ain’t got none. Guess that means they own everything:”.

            “Damnit, Carl, that land belongs to us. Our families owned it for three, four generations”.
“Then why don’t you tell the County to clear off Charlie’s place and mind their own business”?

            “Carl’s right, Bob, a man only owns what he controls”.

            Bob recollects, ”Grandad Clayton told me ‘bout a town down in Kentucky. . . this was right after the civil war. . . anyway, it got taken over by an outlaw gang ‘called themselves the Red Rangers. Right after they shot the sheriff, they started charging folks for walkin’ on the street, breathing, or anything else they could think of. Folks couldn’t turn ‘round without getting’ say-so from this bunch. This went on ‘til Union soldiers showed up.

            After that, it was the Union started chargin’ for permits, fees, fines, bossin’ everybody ’round and I don’t know what all - like they owned the town”.

            Carl repeats, “ A man only owns what he controls”.

            “Well, what can we do”.

            Just then, Jake Patten, Carl’s brother walks in fresh from the Barber shop.
“What can we do? You boys must be talkin’ ‘bout Charlie Cox. . . I thought so”.

            Years back, when others had joined their fathers fulltime in working the land, Jake went to college. Now he was the only lawyer for a long ways around. He didn’t make a lot of money, but he did get all the business.

            Jake says, “I’ve been thinkin about what we could do’. . we can’t fight the County, but we might be able to work ‘round ‘em.
‘Been thinkin’ ‘bout this Tax “delinquency” business for a while. A lot of folks come to me with the same problem Charlie Cox is facing. I’m thinkin’. . . Maybe something like the old Grange Association . . . some kind of Co-Op, or . . .

            Billie Lang, upset and impatient, interrupts, “What the Hell you talkin’ ‘bout Jake”?

            Jake explains, “Slow down Billie, first I gotta tell you how this land-grab law works. It starts with the County issuing a delinquent payment lien on Charlie’s property. Then, they sell this lien to an investor, usually a bank. The bank adds their own fees to the original delinquent payment. Then they add penalties’ for lack of payment. Pretty soon, it gets way out of hand. The bank forecloses. Charlies farm goes up for auction.”.

            “That’s crazy screwed up, How in the hell can the county and the bank sell a farm they don’t own”?
“Well Billie, They got an endless supply of money, guns and lawyers. They can do whatever they want”. “Well that don’t make it right”. “No it don’t. Law ain’t the same as justice”.

            “Alright Jake”, says brother Carl, “Go on, what you got in mind”?

            “Well, first of all, the County hasn’t issued the lien, yet. But they’re planning to. Tim Acton called me. You all remember Tim, from high school. He’s been workin’ at the County Court since college. He thought we’d all want to know what’s coming. We’re not gonna’ have much time, but we might have just enough”.

            “I’m thinkin’ we form a corporation that will buy Jasper County property tax liens”. Might call it”: The Jasper County Heritage Association”.
“Bob says, “You been thinkin’ alright. While you was thinkin’, Did you think how po’ boys like us gonna pay for this ‘Association”?
“Yes I did. None of you’re so poor ya’ couldn’t put a thousand, three thousand, maybe more, into an escrow account to get things started. And it wouldn’t be just a few of us. There’s probably thirty or more farmers ‘round here only a few steps away from what Charlie Cox is facing. I think they’d all join once they understood the plan”.

            Dale asks, “How do we get paid back”? Well, Charlie pays us back, over time, after he gets back on his feet, maybe he pays us back with interest - we can sort that out later. Main thing is, nobody in the Association is ever gonna have to worry ‘bout property tax ‘delinquency’ again”.
“Sounds like Insurance”. “I guess that’s a good way to explain it, except this “Insurance’, will be paid-in-full”.
All nod agreement.
“Alright, I’ll get started on the paperwork”.

            “Say, Dale how’d Charlie get caught in this fix”? “Well, we all lost money on that long drought last year. Charlie lost more than the rest of us. You know how much of his farm is bottomland, that’s usually better for him because of the extra moisture, but the creek dried out and the drought ended with three weeks of rain that drowned near all the crop left. On top of that, lightnin’ set his barn, and the toolshed next to it on fire. Lost livestock and equipment. Pretty much finished him for the year”.

            “Yeah, I remember the fire, didn’t know it was that bad”. “Well, Charlie never was much to complain”. “He sure needs some help now”, says, Bob, “I better get home and tell Amy what we’re planin’ on”.
“Guess we all better talk this over with our wives”, adds, Carl.

            They get up to leave.

            Billie leaves first – saying mysteriously, “I got something I gotta get to, right now”.

            He walked back to the garage, “Sy, I gotta take the afternoon off – personal business”. “Sure, nothin’ here can’t wait ‘till tomorrow”.
Billie drove straight to Charlie’s farm. His mind was churning. Suddenly his world had fallen apart. None of it made sense. Nobody was happy with this situation – It was a worse for Billie He hadn’t thought about property tax. He had paid property tax on his few acres. He didn’t know the government could take your land if you didn’t pay the tax. He understood mortgages. Mortgage was debt. You didn’t own what you hadn’t yet paid for. This was more like theft. People worked for years to pay off mortgages to make sure that no matter what else happened, they at least owned their own home and land.

            It was all a lie.

            The Government owned everything. The people owned nothing.

            It wasn’t right. It was wrong, very, very wrong. Billie couldn’t change the law, but he could damn sure make this particular theft hard for the sons-a-bitches. He hoped Charlie would go along with his plan.

            Charlie and Alice were sitting out on their big front porch with a pitcher of iced tea. They could tell right away that Billie was agitated. “Well, what in the world is the matter, Billie”, asked Alice, sweetly. Billie spilled it all out – the talk at Trudy’s, his anger, his determination that this couldn’t stand. He didn’t reproach them for keeping him in the dark about their troubles. He knew them. He understood.

            “The bastards – excuse me Alice – can’t take your land if you sold it to me”. “What”? “I know, I know. Sounds crazy. But they haven’t issued any lien, yet. If you made out a bill-of-sale to me for one dollar, for everything – house, land, livestock, and all your equipment, they couldn’t do a thing about it. Oh, they’d take it to court and who knows what all, but it’d sure throw a monkey-wrench into their dang takeover”. Billie, now almost out of breath, asks for their opinion.

            Charlie, after thoughtfully drawing on his pipe, says, “I don’t know much about how legal this would be, but I like the idea of puttin’ up a fight”. Alice says, “We could write it out and Billie could take it to Jake Patton. See what he thinks. No harm in that”.

            All the way to Jake’s office, Billie was wondering why Charlie and Alice weren’t as upset as he was. He didn’t know that they had been thinking about retiring from full-time farming for the last two years. They thought they might move to a small house in town and hire someone to manage the farm – probably Billie.

            Since they had no children of their own, They had been casually mulling over making Billie their legal heir. Like Billie, they had no idea the County could forcefully take their land from them. They planned to take out a loan for the back taxes, and pay it off – eventually. They did not understand this, “tax delinquency”, business at all.

            They did not believe such a land-grab could possibly be legal. Also, they were tired. Charlie was seventy-three. Alice was sixty-nine. They were tired. Still, they weren’t about to just lay down and die. They hoped Jake Patton might find a way to make Billie’s plan work.

            Jake liked the idea very much. He draws up the proper papers even though he doesn’t know any better than anybody else how this might turn out. Even if the sale was cleared, the delinquent taxes wouldn’t disappear. They would only be transferred to Billie Lang, who couldn’t pay them either. That problem could be solved by reselling the property to The Jasper County Heritage Association, which didn’t exist – yet.   

            In the next few days the, ”Association,” meets at the Cox farm. The wives are nervous, but committed. Everyone around Jasper was reared on tales of families pitching in together to help neighbors. It’s in their blood. Word is out, seven more families have joined the original four.

            Jake Patton hands out copies of his outlined plan.

            Once general understanding and agreement was reached, Alice serves coffee and cake. They wonder how they could get this idea out to more folks. Jake offers to write a piece for The Jasper County Bulletin – which really is a bulletin – produced by The Jasper County Chamber of Commerce. It’s usually six pages stapled at the top left corner. They graciously add another page for Jakes article.

            Jake leaves with personal checks for the proposed Association. In the next few days he writes both the newsletter article, and articles of incorporation.

            Billie Lang volunteers to help out in Jake’s office in any way he can. He has no idea how much this volunteer work will change the course of his life. He learns what forms are needed, what language is required, where the papers must be sent, what parts of current law apply, and where the levers of law can be placed to maximum effect. He even learns to type.

            In the course of the work, Jake talks about large ideas that should be the basis for all law-making. Ideas that Billie had not thought about before. Ideas that reveal how unjust laws are also immoral laws. At one point, he picks up his copy of the King James Bible. He reads aloud from the book of Micah, 4:4 – “… They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it”.

            Jake says, “That’s what God thinks. To Hell with what the County thinks”.

            “Amen”, says Billie.

            “Another thing”, says Jake, “These County bureaucrats aren’t bad men. In a certain sense there’re not men at all. They’re cogs in a machine. They gave up thinking about right & wrong when they signed on for government service. Bureaucrats don’t think; they fill out forms.

            We have to change the minds of people before we can make laws that are really just, but just now, we have to draw up some paperwork to convince a judge that your notion of buying Charlie’s property right before foreclosure is perfectly legal. We also have to get that article for the Bulletin written, as well as drawing up articles of incorporation for the Association. That’s a lot of work and not much time”. ‘Yes Sir”! says Billie.

Jake Patton’s article from the Jasper County Bulletin:

            The Wolf at Our Door - We all know people forced off their land by predatory property-tax seizures. Our neighbors, Charlie and Alice Cox may be next. No one is safe. Every farmer knows the perils of storm, fire, and flood. Few of us understand the “legal” twists and turns that allow our land to be stolen by our very own government.
            Help is on the way. The Jasper County Heritage Association will stand with you.
            The JCHA will be set up as a non-profit co-operative, much like the old grange associations. Every member will be protected by all the other members. An escrow fund will be created from membership fees. This fund will be used to pay off so-called, “Property Tax, Delinquency”. The fund will be repaid by the farmers helped when they’re back on their feet.
            The JCHA will also do the paper shuffling - so you can get back to farming.
            We can’t get rid of property tax - that would take new law, but we can prevent your own land from being ruthlessly taken from you by our wolfish land-grabbing government.
            Eleven families have already joined.|
            I hope your family will be next.
            Call or, stop by my office, for details.                           

            Jake Patton – Attorney at Law
 

            The response was all that could be hoped for. Within the week, thirty-seven farm families joined the original eleven. Next week, more. Finally, nearly every farmer in Jasper County signed on. In the years that followed, the Association would expand throughout the State and save the land of hundreds of family farmers.

            Unfortunately, They did not achieve legal status soon enough to save the Cox’s farm. Charlie and Alice were allowed to keep their farmhouse and yard. The rest, thousands of acres that had belonged to the Cox Family for three generations, was sold to a corporate farming conglomerate out of St. Louis.

            Three years later, Charlie died; Alice followed one year after. Both died of natural causes. Local folks said they died because they had nothing left to live for. They willed what was left of their land to Billie Lang. Billie signed it over to the Jasper County Heritage Association.

            The Association made the old farmhouse into a combination of shrine, archive, and visitors center. Most of the yard was paved to provide parking space for the increasing number of visitors. A bronze plaque next to the front door, and a larger sign before the house, told a story of valiant resistance to overweening government.

            The farmers still met a Trudy’s café. Sometimes Billie joined them. He no longer ordered the rhubarb pie; not because he had any worry of getting fat. He was thin as a rail and always had been. Rhubarb pie now had the bitter taste of loss. He never ate another slice.

            Billie Lang lost interest in being a farmer. “What’s the point if you can’t own the land”? “Might just as well be a hired hand, workin’ at . . . anything”. Billie sold his twelve acres and now spent all his free-time working with Jake Patton.

            The work changed his life

            He slowly began to understand how the cogs and levers of law and government worked. Just like Jake said, the law was mindless, mechanical, not so different from the machines he repaired at Sy’s Garage. The law responded to neither reason, nor emotional appeal. It did respond to those who knew how to rearrange the many complicated parts to their own purpose.

            Billie decided to study more deeply the arcane physics of law . From now on his goal would be to become a mechanic of law – in other words, a lawyer.

            Years later – he graduated, with honors, from State University as a Doctor of Law. He officially joined Jake Patton’s Law Office, which thereafter was known as: Patton & Lang - Attorneys at Law. Much of the work of Patton & Lang was devoted to The Jasper County Historical Association. Much of Billy’s personal attention was devoted to blocking the damage to human lives created by property tax.

            He slowly understood that more would be required than merely technical tweaking. Land seizure, though bad enough, was only the sad outcome of a larger evil – loss of freedom. The notion of America’s Revolutionary Founders was that the inalienable rights of individual free men - including the right to own property - should be protected by their government, not overturned by their government.    

            Now, the only solution possible is that government, at every level, must be expressly forbidden by Constitutional Amendment to tax the property of sovereign citizens. That would require years of work.

            Before any law can be changed, people must first be persuaded that the law should be changed. Jake Patton was right about that, too. Being a lawyer wouldn’t be enough. Billie must also become a Politician. He hated the thought. He despised politicians. But, there was no other way to get the job done.

            Gritting his teeth, he set off to get elected – to something.

            He never got used to it.

            Through miles and miles of travel, endless ceremonial meals of rubber chicken, countless speeches, and the shaking of thousands of hands he persevered. He moved from city council, to state representative, to state senate, tirelessly making his case for any easements of property tax, and ultimately, for a constitutional amendment to destroy it forever.

            Somewhere along the line, He legally added to his birth name, a middle name – Cox. He did this to honor his friend and to remind himself of his mission.

            From time to time he took time out from politics to visit his old friends at Trudy’s Café. “Hey Bob, look who’s here”, says Carl. “It’s the right honorable William Cox Lange”.
“You President yet asks, Bob”. Good-natured laughs all around. Dale says, “let’m be boys. How’s it goin’, Billie? Got any crops bustin’ through your political fields.”?

            Billie sits down, Trudy fills his cup, and smiling says. “’Nothin’ like a well-dressed man to make the old Café look classy”. “Thanks, Trudy”, Ya’ know a suit is just the politicians uncomfortable version of bib-overalls, And, Dale – I’ll tell ya, those ‘political fields’ are chock full of rocks. it’s tough to plant anything. But I keep ploughing’.

            I did get a bill passed to keep property tax from being raised every year - at least for Jasper County. Maybe later for the whole State. I’m working on another bill to exclude anyone on fixed-income from payin’ any property tax at all. Not as much as I wanted, but it’s something”.

            “Well, I’d say that’s quite a lot”, says Carl. “Damn right”, echoes Bob and Dale.

            “What I really want to do is get rid of Property tax altogether”.

            “Who’s fightin’ you”, asks Dale”

            “City folks – says, Billie. Farmers know you can’t be free without ownin’ property. City folks don’t. Farmers take care of themselves – by themselves. They raise their own meat, grow their own produce, dig their own wells, build anything that needs buildin’, and fix anything that needs fixin’.

            Most city folks live in apartments. Even those who live in houses don’t have any real tie to their houses or to the land their houses set on. They move from one place to another. They have no memories of shared heritage with their fathers, or grandfathers

            If the world went to Hell tomorrow, it would take a while before the Farmers ‘round Jasper even noticed. They take care of themselves.

            Farmers don’t need government, city folks do. People in cities couldn’t last more than a few weeks on their own. They’ve lived their whole life dependent on government. They can’t even build a fence without fees, regulation and oversight. Government tells them what, where, how much, and how high. Almost everything they do, or aren’t allowed to do, depends upon government permission.
They’ve never lived a life of independence.            
They’ve never owned property - they’ve never been free.
           You don’t miss, or understand, what you never knew.”.

            “Damn, says”, Bob, “Never thought of it that way before. That’s a hard row to hoe. And here I wuz thinkin’ you was just gadin’ ‘bout livin’ easy on the taxpayer’s dime”. “Well, we’re behind you” says, Carl.
“Every farmer in the County’s behind you”, says Dale.

            The years rolled by. Billie kept ploughing.

            Eventually, he became: United States Senator – William Cox Lang.

            His message never varied. The following article is typical:

 

           Every Man Under His Own Vine – by William Cox Lang

            America, unlike other nations was founded upon the individual sovereignty of citizens. The only legitimate role for government is to be protector of the life, liberty, and property of the individual citizen. Government’s role should be guardian, not predator.
Property tax ensures that only Government can ever truly own property. You do not own what can be taken or controlled without your consent. In the case of property, that means you can lease property, with equity, but you cannot own it.
It means that the poor and the elderly, living on low fixed incomes, can never be secure in the only wealth they may have ever accumulated. It means they can never be sure of a roof over their heads. It means that any certainty of passing on to their children what they have worked a lifetime to acquire can never be assured.
Property tax violates the spirit of our Bill of Rights & Constitution.
Property tax encourages Government to act as both bully and thief. This is one large reason why so many Americans now view their own Government with increasing fear, and contempt. Property should be beyond the reach of government.
Your property should belong to you and yours, in perpetuity, generation after generation, only to be parted with by your consent to sell, or by your bequeath to your heirs - never by government mandate!
This is a nation born to honor and defend individual liberty. Life is possible without individual property rights – but freedom isn’t. People without real ownership of land are little more than serfs.
Property Tax should be abolished. That will take a while, but there are steps that can be taken sooner?

1. Exempt anyone dependent on fixed income: primarily the poor and the elderly.

2. Tie property tax to income by limiting payments to a percentage of income.

3. Set a maximum dollar amount, adjusted for inflation, that can never be raised.

The laws must change. Property tax must be declared illegal. Until then, legislators should pass restrictions to current law to alleviate the damage. There is great opportunity here for politicians with courage to do great public good.
Some voters will worry about how the schools will be funded. This is a common response, but it is not a real problem. There is no necessary connection between property tax and school funding. It’s only convention. Why not a school tax. At least that would be honest. States without property tax have no trouble funding their schools. Money is fungible.
Please join me with ideas, donations and legal assistance in my ongoing campaign: ‘Every Man Under His Own Vine`. Mitigating existing laws with the three steps enumerated above can help, now. Ultimately, we must pass a Constitutional Amendment that will put a stake through the heart of the great evil that is property tax.

Call or write, to the office of Senator William Cox Lang

 

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Epilogue: Senator Lang did not succeed in passing a constitutional amendment to outlaw property tax. He died too soon.

            He died trying.




Victorio

LITTLE WORDS . Joyce Guion Shipley