Habu,

The federal income tax was intended to be a temporary measure to support US operations in World War I. Still waiting for the war to start over that one. You can argue that after nearly a hundred years we have a much longer list of grievances, but still the giant slumbers. The US population rolled over in its sleep in 1994, and may fart and scratch a little in 2010, but if it’s war you want you’re going to need more.

It’s amazing what the general mass of people will tolerate when you tell them they’re being patriotic and generally awesome for doing it. All you have to do is provide them a plausible way to explain away their otherwise unexplainable behavior, get them to the neurotransmitter ‘reward’ release that accompanies the resolution of internal conflict and they’ll go back to sleep.