America was founded as a republic of liberty. No one could exploit the government's power to control the lives of their fellow man, because the government had very little power to exploit. Government power was checked by a constitution. It was to be a country where the minority were protected from the majority, whether that minority be 49 percent of the population, 20 percent, or a minority of one. Even if 99 percent of the population wanted to infringe upon the rights of the remaining 1 percent, they could not do so because the Constitution protected them.

This was because America was not a democracy (rule by the majority); it was a republic (rule by central principles). It is easy to see why a republic is more desirable than a democracy. In an absolute democracy, the majority has absolute power over every aspect of everyone's lives. While this might be fine while your group is in the majority, if the majority sways to the other side you are at the mercy of someone else's whim. The only way to keep everyone secure from the abuse of power is to limit the amount of power that exists in the first place, through the establishment of a republic. Our founders knew this, and not once does the word "democracy" appear in the Constitution.

The 16th Amendment was a symbol of the gradual change from a republic to an absolute democracy that America would make in the 20th century. The 16th Amendment, passed in 1913, allows the government to place income taxes on its citizens. There is a reason the founding fathers left this out of the Constitution. It gives the majority absolute rule over the rightful property of anyone not included in their group.

With the passage of the 16th amendment, government started to grow. This gradual growth in the size of the government and the role of government in individual's lives would have appalled the early American revolutionaries. They had gotten rid of the tyranny of King George to see it replaced 150 years later by the tyranny of the majority.

Today, the government has grown to a massive size, with over a trillion dollar a year budget. Sixty-four percent of this budget is paid for by the top 5 percent of income earners. It is not surprising that a heavily progressive income tax would arise in a democracy moving toward totalitarianism. The majority middle and lower class Americans have used the 16th Amendment as an instrument to infringe upon the property rights of the upper class.

This new government attitude has not just been felt by the upper class. Now that the precedent had been set, the government has made more and more inroads into property rights. My father had to get a permit from the local government before he could build a porch in our house's backyard. Every week, workers are forced to pay absurd amounts of their paychecks into income tax, social security and Medicare, for their own "good." Everywhere you look, gross offenses against the founding principles of the United States are being committed.

It is not surprising that with the disappearance of property rights, other rights began to be infringed upon as well. I do not doubt that the U.S. government today could do anything as long as it had enough popular support. In some cases, such as the war on Iraq, violating a constitutional law is done even without popular consent.

The Constitution requires congressional approval to declare war. Federal regulation of the television airwaves restricts freedom of speech. Politicians shocked by the use of foul language on CDs have attempted to use the government to outlaw it. Anti-drug legislation, abortion restrictions and legislation regulating sex between consenting adults have stripped away our right to the ownership of our own bodies. Proposed anti-flag burning bills and anti-pornography laws continue to infringe upon freedom of speech by forcing the tastes of the majority on all Americans.

If we wish to see a free society exist once again upon the face of this earth, this trend towards totalitarian democracy needs to be restrained and reversed. Repealing the 16th Amendment is a good and necessary first step. Government needs to be restricted to the limited role of keeping the rights of its citizens secure, as it was in the original Constitution. It should not be a tool for the majority of people to infringe upon those rights. I yearn to see just one country dedicated to individual freedom upon this earth in my lifetime.