Liberty Rising: The Plan to End Property May 10th 4pm

Deep Dive: The Bill of Right

🗽 Deep Dive: The Bill of Rights and Tax Freedom

🏛️ SEAL SD Connects Constitutional Rights to the Core GRT Plan

At SealSD.com, we’re passionate about aligning the Core GRT Plan—part of the Maximum Liberty Plan (Plan 2)—with the foundational principles of liberty enshrined in the U.S. Bill of Rights. This plan replaces all state taxes with a single 5% Gross Receipts Tax (GRT), generating $3.6 billion and saving you $3,000–$5,000 annually by eliminating property taxes, a form of government overreach that threatens your financial freedom. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, protects individual liberties and limits government power, principles that resonate deeply with our mission to reduce tax burdens and empower South Dakotans. This page explores how key amendments support the Core GRT Plan, examines historical violations and enforcement challenges, addresses abuses, proposes solutions, and highlights the need for better education on these rights, drawing on the Founding Fathers’ vision of liberty as freedom from oppressive government control (March 26, 2025, 17:57; April 6, 2025, 08:13).

🗣️ First Amendment: Free Speech and the Right to Petition

The First Amendment guarantees your freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, rights that directly support the Core GRT Plan’s citizen-driven approach to tax reform:

  • Freedom of Speech: The First Amendment ensures you can openly discuss and advocate for tax freedom without fear of government censorship. At events like the Liberty Forum on April 19, 2025, in Rapid City, South Dakotans voiced concerns about property taxes—some seniors faced $3,000 annual bills on fixed incomes (Page 22: Thank You to Liberty Forum Attendees). Your ability to speak freely about these burdens fuels our movement, gaining 22,400 views and 170 followers online (April 21, 2025, 21:25).
  • Right to Petition: The First Amendment’s petition clause empowers you to propose and support the Core GRT Plan amendment, requiring 35,017 signatures by May 5, 2026, to place it on the November 2026 ballot (Page 14: Constitutional Amendment). This right to petition mirrors the Founding Fathers’ vision of citizens holding government accountable, ensuring your voice shapes South Dakota’s tax future (March 26, 2025, 17:57).
  • Alignment with Tax Freedom: By exercising these rights, you’re challenging government overreach in the form of property taxes, which the Founders would likely view as a threat to liberty (April 2, 2025, 16:49). The First Amendment ensures your advocacy for the Core GRT Plan is protected, empowering you to reclaim financial freedom.

Analogy for Clarity: The First Amendment is like a picnic megaphone—it lets you shout about unfair picnic spot fees and gather 35,017 picnic friends to sign a picnic petition, making sure the picnic planners hear your picnic voice loud and clear!

🛡️ Fourth Amendment: Protection from Unreasonable Searches

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, ensuring your privacy and property rights, which are critical in the context of tax enforcement:

  • Privacy in Financial Matters: Under the current tax system, property tax assessments often involve invasive appraisals or audits, which can feel like unreasonable searches into your financial life. The Core GRT Plan simplifies this by eliminating property taxes entirely, reducing the need for such government intrusion into your home’s value (Page 28: Taxes: Mechanics and Impact of the Core GRT Plan).
  • Limits on Enforcement: The Fourth Amendment ensures that any GRT-related audits by the South Dakota Department of Revenue or SD-DOGE are conducted with probable cause and due process, protecting businesses from overreach. SD-DOGE’s audits focus on transparency, not punitive measures, aligning with constitutional protections (Page 29: Deep Dive: How SD-DOGE Will Function).
  • Alignment with Tax Freedom: By removing property taxes, the Core GRT Plan reduces government intrusion into your personal property, a concern the Founders addressed with the Fourth Amendment to prevent abuses like those under British rule (March 26, 2025, 17:57). This protection ensures your financial privacy while simplifying tax compliance.

Analogy for Clarity: The Fourth Amendment is like a picnic fence—it keeps picnic planners from snooping in your picnic tent without a good reason, and the Core GRT Plan removes the picnic spot fee inspectors altogether, letting you enjoy your picnic in peace!

⚖️ Fifth Amendment: Due Process and Property Rights

The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process and protects property rights, principles that directly support the Core GRT Plan’s mission to eliminate property taxes:

  • Due Process in Taxation: The Fifth Amendment ensures that any tax enforcement, such as GRT compliance, follows due process, protecting businesses from arbitrary penalties. SD-DOGE’s oversight, with citizen input and transparent audits, ensures fairness in how the $3.6 billion GRT revenue is managed (Page 31: Deep Dive: SD-DOGE Membership and Governance).
  • Protection of Property Rights: Property taxes, costing $1.6 billion state-wide, threaten your right to property by risking your home if unpaid, a form of government overreach the Founders opposed (April 6, 2025, 08:13). The Core GRT Plan eliminates this burden, saving you $3,000–$5,000 annually and ensuring your property remains secure (Page 10: How It Affects the Average Homeowner).
  • Alignment with Tax Freedom: The Fifth Amendment’s protection against property deprivation without due process aligns with the Core GRT Plan’s goal of removing property taxes, a tax the Founders like Jefferson would likely view as infringing on liberty (April 2, 2025, 16:49). This amendment supports your right to financial freedom without government overreach.

Analogy for Clarity: The Fifth Amendment is like a picnic shield—it makes sure picnic planners can’t take your picnic tent without a fair picnic trial, and the Core GRT Plan stops them from charging picnic spot fees, keeping your picnic tent safe and yours!

🏘️ Tenth Amendment: State Powers and Local Control

The Tenth Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or the people, a principle that underpins South Dakota’s autonomy and the Core GRT Plan’s citizen-driven approach:

  • State Autonomy in Taxation: The Tenth Amendment ensures South Dakota can design its tax system, like the Core GRT Plan, without federal interference, as taxation powers are reserved to the states (March 26, 2025, 17:57). This allows South Dakota to eliminate property taxes and implement the GRT, tailoring tax policy to local needs.
  • Citizen-Driven Reform: The Tenth Amendment empowers South Dakotans to propose the Core GRT Plan through the ballot initiative process, requiring 35,017 signatures by May 5, 2026 (Page 14: Constitutional Amendment). This reflects the Founders’ intent for the people to retain ultimate authority in a constitutional republic (Page 23: Understanding Our Constitutional Republic).
  • Local Control Preserved: SD-DOGE’s oversight ensures GRT funds ($1.5 billion for local governments) are managed transparently without dictating local spending, preserving the autonomy of counties like Pennington and Minnehaha (Page 30: Structure and Setup of SD-DOGE). This aligns with the Tenth Amendment’s emphasis on local governance (April 14, 2025, 14:00).

Analogy for Clarity: The Tenth Amendment is like a picnic rule that lets South Dakota plan its own picnic—it gives picnic friends the power to sign a picnic petition for a free picnic, and lets each picnic town decide their picnic games, keeping the picnic local and free!

🚨 Historical Violations: A Bill of Rights, Not Restrictions

The Bill of Rights was designed as a protector of individual liberties, placing limits on all levels of government—federal, state, and local—not on the people. It’s a “Bill of Rights,” not a “Bill of Restrictions,” as you’ve emphasized, meant to ensure freedom from oppressive control (April 6, 2025, 08:13). However, history shows that states have often been uninterested in enforcing these rights, leading to violations that undermine their protective intent:

  • First Amendment Violations: In the 1830s, Southern states suppressed abolitionist speech by banning anti-slavery publications, violating free speech rights. During the Civil Rights era, states like Alabama arrested activists for assembling to protest segregation, ignoring their right to petition. These actions show states prioritizing control over liberty, a trend the Core GRT Plan counters by empowering you to petition for tax freedom without fear of suppression (Page 14: Constitutional Amendment).
  • Fourth Amendment Abuses: In the 20th century, states like California used aggressive tax enforcement tactics, such as warrantless property assessments, to collect revenue, often violating privacy rights. The Core GRT Plan reduces such intrusions by eliminating property taxes, aligning with the Fourth Amendment’s protections (Page 28: Taxes: Mechanics and Impact of the Core GRT Plan).
  • Fifth Amendment Breaches: States have historically abused property rights through excessive taxation, such as in the 1930s when Great Depression-era tax foreclosures displaced thousands without due process. Property taxes today ($1.6 billion state-wide) continue this threat, risking homes if unpaid, which the Core GRT Plan eliminates to uphold Fifth Amendment rights (Page 10: How It Affects the Average Homeowner).
  • Tenth Amendment Neglect: States have often ceded powers to the federal government, such as during the New Deal era when South Dakota accepted federal overreach in exchange for funds, diluting state autonomy. The Core GRT Plan reclaims this autonomy by creating a state-led tax system, free from federal interference, as the Tenth Amendment intends (Page 23: Understanding Our Constitutional Republic).
  • Lack of Enforcement: States have frequently failed to enforce the Bill of Rights, prioritizing revenue or control over individual liberty. For example, during the Jim Crow era, states ignored equal protection under the law (Fourteenth Amendment, which applies the Bill of Rights to states), showing a broader pattern of disinterest in upholding constitutional protections. This history underscores the need for citizen-driven reforms like the Core GRT Plan to limit government at all levels.

Analogy for Clarity: The Bill of Rights is a picnic fence meant to keep picnic planners in check, not to tie up picnic friends—but sometimes picnic towns ignored the fence, locking up picnic speakers or sneaking into picnic tents, acting like it’s a picnic restriction list instead of a picnic rights list!

⚖️ Addressing Abuses: Restoring the Bill of Rights’ Intent

The Core GRT Plan and SD-DOGE offer solutions to address these historical abuses, ensuring the Bill of Rights limits government, not the people, and restoring its protective intent:

  • Citizen Empowerment: The First Amendment’s petition right allows you to propose the Core GRT Plan, countering state inaction by directly reducing tax burdens (Page 14: Constitutional Amendment). SD-DOGE’s citizen oversight committee ensures transparency, preventing violations like those seen in past tax enforcement (Page 31: Deep Dive: SD-DOGE Membership and Governance).
  • Reducing Overreach: By eliminating property taxes, the Core GRT Plan aligns with the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, minimizing government intrusion into your privacy and property (Page 28: Taxes: Mechanics and Impact of the Core GRT Plan). SD-DOGE’s audits focus on transparency, not punishment, ensuring due process in tax enforcement (Page 29: Deep Dive: How SD-DOGE Will Function).
  • State Autonomy: The Tenth Amendment’s reservation of powers supports South Dakota’s right to implement the Core GRT Plan, reclaiming autonomy from federal overreach and ensuring local control over GRT funds (Page 30: Structure and Setup of SD-DOGE). This counters historical trends of states ceding power, reinforcing state-led governance.
  • Vigilance Against Abuses: The Core GRT Plan empowers you to hold all levels of government accountable, as Thomas Jefferson emphasized with “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance” (Page 18: The Power of the People’s Free Will). SD-DOGE’s strict membership requirements—no lobbyist ties, background checks—ensure it serves South Dakotans, not special interests, preventing the kind of abuses seen in history (Page 31: Deep Dive: SD-DOGE Membership and Governance).

Analogy for Clarity: The Core GRT Plan is like fixing the picnic fence—picnic friends can now speak up to stop unfair picnic fees, SD-DOGE keeps picnic planners honest without sneaking into picnic tents, and South Dakota plans its own picnic, making sure the picnic rights list protects everyone, not restricts them!

📚 Improving Education: Teaching the Bill of Rights’ True Purpose

South Dakota’s education system must improve in teaching the Bill of Rights as a protector of individual liberty, not a tool for government restriction, to prevent future abuses and empower citizens:

  • Current Shortfalls: Many schools focus on rote memorization of the amendments without emphasizing their historical context or purpose—to limit government power. Students often learn the First Amendment as a list of freedoms without understanding its role in empowering citizens to challenge overreach, such as through initiatives like the Core GRT Plan (Page 18: The Power of the People’s Free Will).
  • Historical Context: Education should highlight violations like the suppression of abolitionist speech or warrantless tax assessments, showing how states have failed to enforce the Bill of Rights as a protector of rights (April 6, 2025, 08:13). This context helps students understand the Founders’ intent for a “Bill of Rights,” not a “Bill of Restrictions.”
  • Practical Application: Schools should teach how the Bill of Rights applies today, such as using the Tenth Amendment to support state-led reforms like the Core GRT Plan, or the Fifth Amendment to protect against property tax overreach. Hands-on lessons, like mock petitions for tax reform, can make these rights tangible.
  • Curriculum Reform: South Dakota can leverage the $960 million in GRT funding for schools to develop civics programs focused on constitutional literacy (Page 29: Deep Dive: How SD-DOGE Will Function). This includes teacher training to emphasize the Bill of Rights’ role in limiting government at all levels, ensuring students grow up ready to defend their liberties.

Analogy for Clarity: Our picnic schools need to teach picnic friends that the picnic rights list keeps picnic planners in check—not them! They should learn how picnic towns ignored picnic rights in the past, practice making picnic petitions, and grow up knowing how to keep the picnic free and fair!

💡 Why It Matters: Constitutional Support for Tax Freedom

The Bill of Rights provides a constitutional foundation for the Core GRT Plan, ensuring that your fight for tax freedom is rooted in the same principles of liberty and limited government that the Founding Fathers championed. The First Amendment protects your right to advocate for reform, the Fourth Amendment safeguards your privacy from intrusive tax enforcement, the Fifth Amendment defends your property rights against overreach, and the Tenth Amendment empowers South Dakota to lead with a citizen-driven tax system. Historical violations show how states have often failed to enforce these rights as protectors of liberty, treating them as restrictions instead, but the Core GRT Plan and SD-DOGE address these abuses by empowering citizens, reducing overreach, and ensuring accountability. Improving education on the Bill of Rights’ true purpose—a “Bill of Rights,” not a “Bill of Restrictions”—equips future generations to defend their liberties. Together, these efforts support the Core GRT Plan’s mission to save you $3,000–$5,000 annually, eliminate property taxes, and reduce government overreach, aligning with the Founders’ vision of liberty as freedom from oppressive control (April 6, 2025, 08:13). By understanding and upholding these rights, you’re building a South Dakota where financial freedom and individual liberty thrive.

Analogy for Clarity: The Bill of Rights is your picnic shield, megaphone, fence, and rulebook—it lets you speak for a free picnic, keeps picnic planners out of your picnic tent, protects your picnic spot, and lets your picnic town decide, ensuring the picnic stays free and yours. By fixing past picnic mistakes and teaching picnic kids the picnic rights list, we’ll keep the picnic free forever!

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