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DEAR SLAVEY - SEPTEMBER 11TH EDITION

Dear Slavey:

I recently applied for a driver’s license renewal online in California and seeing what they wanted me to agree to really brought home how far our police state has progressed. Is there any way to get around having to agree to a complete invasion of privacy in order to drive in this State?

Joan in Sacramento

Dear Joan:

I was curious to find out exactly what you were asked to do when you went to renew your license and here's what I found. Read it and weep:

Certification/Disclosure Information Acknowledgement

Please read the following and click the box below to confirm you have read and agree with the information:

I agree to submit to a chemical test of my blood, breath, or urine for the purpose of determining the alcohol or drug content of my blood when testing is requested by a peace officer acting in accordance with Vehicle Code §23136 or §23612.
I understand that if I'm under 21 years of age, I cannot legally drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01% or more. Driving with a BAC of 0.01% or more, refusing to take, or failing to complete an alcohol screening or drug test, results in a one-year suspension of my driving privilege.
I am the person whose name appears on the renewal notice used to process this application. The mailing address shown on the renewal notice is valid, existing, and accurate. I agree to accept service of process at this mailing address according to §415.20(b), §415.30(a), and §416.90 of the Civil Procedure Code.
I understand that DMV will add convictions reported by other states' licensing authorities to my driving record, which may result in sanctions against my California driving privilege pursuant to the applicable sections of the California Vehicle Code.
Social Security Number Collection Disclosure - You are required by law to provide your social security number or your application will be denied. Authority to collect the social security number is 42 U.S.C. 405 and California Vehicle Code Sections 1653.5, 4150, 4150.2, 12800, and 12801.

It will be used in the administration of driver license laws and motor vehicle registration laws and to respond to requests for information from the:

Franchise Tax Board for tax administration
Any agency operations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 601 et.seq.

It will be used to aid in the collection of monies owed in connection with:

Failure to pay fines or failure to appear in court by an applicant
Aid to Families with Dependent Children
Child Support
Establishment of Paternity

WOW! All I have to say about this is make sure you’re using a PO Box as your home address (not a USPS government mailbox – a box at one of those neighborhood businesses with “PMB” mailboxes). One of the main steps on the road to de-slaving yourself is to make sure the authorities don’t know where you live. NEVER give out your home address to anyone but trusted friends and family if you can help it. Utilities end up getting it, but anyone else providing services to your home doesn’t need it.

As I mentioned last week, the State doesn’t want you to do defy them by not giving them your home address, but they’ll never know until the day they come knocking and discover you “live” in a little box with a lock on a wall. I’d love to suggest just avoiding getting a license altogether, but unless you’re completely off the grid and living in a small town in the woods you’re going to attract way too much attention from the police if they ever pull you over.

Stay free as long as you can, slavey peeps!

I happen to be in California this week myself. I came up with Jeff Berwick and after the Casey conference was over in Carlsbad, fellow TDV crew member Justin O'Connell invited me to stay with him in San Diego. It's a lovely city! Too bad it's in California. I can only hope that Mexico reconquers a bit and takes back this beautiful border town.

While here, I was interviewed by Jeffrey Tucker of Laissez Faire Books today. I spoke to him via Skype from Justin's San Diego apartment. The interview was live with viewers able to comment in real time. And the comments were mostly complaints! I suppose it's because my "actionable advice" was summed up thus:

If you comply with the US regulatory and taxing authorities, you will be poorer.
If you stay in the US and skirt their destructive rules in order to keep more of your money and enjoy more of your life, you risk federal kidnapping.
If you really want more freedom without risk, sever your ties to the US and hook up with one of the many countries where you can live freer and keep more of or all of what you earn.

They didn't find that too useful. I guess they were looking for shady tax avoidance strategies or stock tips. Maybe they wanted me to go into detail about how to take initiative and start a restaurant or some other service in a foreign country. I wasn't allowed to go into too much detail over my work at TDV, but that specific advice is a new part of our upcoming format change. We'll be interviewing successful expats each month on how they expatriated and started from scratch with a business venture in a foreign company and turned it into a revenue generating enterprise. It'll only be available to TDV Basic and Premium subscribers, though, so if you are not subscribed, c'mon aboard.

We get a lot of feedback from readers who think we just bash the US and then sell expatriation and passports as the solution. It's true that we think cutting your ties with the US is the best solution there is. The US government is just going to make it harder and harder for its subjects to start businesses, build capital, travel or simply enjoy their lives. But we also understand that the expatriation solution just won't work for all of our readers. That's why we're launching our brand new service for those who can't or won't leave the US... tentatively titled, "TDV Homegrown". TDV Homegrown will be included free for all TDV Basic and Premium subscribers, by the way.

We're committed to helping all our subscribers thrive...even if they don't take our primary advice to get the hell out of Dodge. There's lot else that be done to protect your assets and your freedom, even if you're stuck in the US. In fact, that's what Justin and I have been spending many days huddled over the dining room table planning on exactly what will be in the new newsletter. Stay tuned, vigilantes. No matter what comes or where you find yourself living, your TDV crew is devoted to helping you keep your ass and assets as free as possible no matter what your situation.

Regards,

Editor, The Dollar Vigilante

Comments (5)

lch (not verified) - 36 weeks 10 hours ago

About three years ago I tried to give my P.O. Box to the CA DMV and they refused it and said I needed a physical address.

Dear Slavey (not verified) - 36 weeks 3 days ago

They're only peaceful if you do what you're told, and even then they might beat you up just because they feel like it if no one is pointing a camera at them.

Anonymous (not verified) - 36 weeks 3 days ago

42 USC Sec 405
(vii) For purposes of this subparagraph, the term “State” includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
This term "includes" is not expansive and limits the statute to the territories and D.C., and NOT one of the several states, i.e. California.
Making the issuance of a driver's license predicated on furnishing a SSN is illegal. Period.

srqrebel - 36 weeks 3 days ago

PMB mailboxes may very well work in CA, but the government in FL has been one step ahead on those for at least four years now. It was around four years ago that a friend of mine tried using his Pak Mail address as his home address, and was rejected. The reason they gave was that the address was flagged in the system a PMB location.

I have not given out the address where I lay my head at night in the last eighteen years or so, at any time for any reason. (I have directed people to that location on a need to know basis, but have never given out the address.) In fact, most of that time I have had arrangements to get my mail at physical addresses of individuals who did not even know themselves the location where I lay my head. I have not had anything to hide: It is just a prudent security measure.

One pitfall to be aware of when using that approach, involves getting pulled over while driving home (or if on foot or bicycle, stopped by a police officer for a field interrogation while headed home). If home is in a different direction from the address listed on your ID, and you tell the officer you are on your way home when he asks where you are going, you may find yourself having some uncomfortable explaining to do. Best to have your responses thought through in advance.

Great job on the Dear Slavey column by the way. It must be the first of its kind, and is very much needed! The information and tactics presented match very closely my own experience dealing with the system over the past twenty years, in various states in the US. It is very refreshing to see someone actually putting this stuff out there for others to benefit from!