Willie Nelson

Writes Greg Privette:

Hi Lew,

Read the article about Willie Nelson linked on the Political Theatre. I have always been a fan of Willie. Not just his music but of the man. He has always seemed to be a guy who went his own way. I think it is important to remember he has been a casualty of the drug war more than once. My personal belief is he may have been targeted because he fairly openly defied that idiotic war. We know in the eyes of the government defiance is the worst crime. And of course it is important to remember he was robbed of I think about 16 million worth of his property and essentially forced to be a slave to the state for several years to pay off the balance. If I remember the details correctly, he owed some taxes at one point and his accountants had him put money in some sort of tax shelter instead. Years later the IRS took someone else to court and had that shelter ruled invalid, then proceeded to go after everyone who had participated in that same shelter. As is typical in these cases what had been an amount he could have afforded incurred years of penalties and usury interest rates (rates the government would prosecute others for charging) and became an amount he could not pay. The only positive aspect of that story was people bought up some of his properties cheap at auction and then returned them to him. I have always been a believer in Karma, or what comes around goes around. In this case Willie’s kindness and generosity were returned to him by the kindness and generosity that I believe Is inherent in the productive class of all societies.

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.