Let's not repeat the John Green mistake

Don’t cry for John Green.

And please don’t try to justify what an impartial Texas jury convicted him of doing.

John Green is a tax defier. Put more directly, he’s a thief, and he’s now facing up to five years in prison for trying to defraud the U.S. government. John Green isn’t stealing from the government, actually. He’s stealing from you.

Last year, the Brookings Institution reported that three quarters of the federal budget deficit would be covered if everyone simply paid their full tax bill. We’re talking about tax defiers, not those who use legal loopholes and tax shelters.

“People who evade taxes are not just cheating the government, they are also stealing from their neighbors who are following tax laws and regulations,” the report said.

More than a decade ago, the federal Justice Department defined a tax defier as a person who “seeks to deny and defy the fundamental validity of the tax laws.”

“The tax defier is someone who rejects the legal foundation of the tax system, despite decades of legal precedent upholding the system’s constitutional and statutory validity, and who takes specific and concrete action to violate the law.”

On numerous occasions, Green’s words have echoed those sentiments, but now there’s proof that he’s actually broken the law. Time will tell how isolated this incident really is.

Those who proudly stand with Green in his ideology have another martyr, like former Kootenai County-based Rep. Phil Hart, a tax cheat who persistently hoodwinked voters into buying his snake oil. For the record, there’s nothing patriotic about not paying your legal share of taxes. If you object so strenuously, work to get the laws changed — or better still, run for sheriff, as John Green has.

After losing the 2010 Republican primary for a seat in the state Senate, Green failed in his 2012 and 2016 bids for sheriff. Why such determination to head that department?

Consider what Justice Department trial attorney Robert Kemins wrote recently in a court filing about Green: That he holds “the view that sheriffs have the power to resist federal laws and arrest federal officials they believe are violating the Constitution.” In other words, the very people who might come after you if you’re cheating on your federal taxes. No, the citizens of Kootenai County would be better served by having John Green in a prison cell than in the sheriff’s office.

The top agenda item now should be assuring that Green is replaced to fill the remainder of his legislative term by someone who will actually abide by the laws of the land, who does not hold himself or herself above those laws and will be dedicated to serving the citizens rather than attempting to justify bizarre beliefs while padding her or his pockets.

North Idahoans deserve someone whose integrity outweighs his ideology.