DEATH IS EASY by Russell Madden   Softcover, $14.95 Hardcover, $24.95     (Preview. Also available in a digital edition, $4.81.)	FREEDOM, As If It Mattered by Russell Madden   Softcover, $24.95 Hardcover, $34.95   (Preview. Also available in a digital edition, $5.63.)

Extortion has always been a favorite target of our governmental agencies. Threatening someone with harm unless he accedes to another's demands is rightfully a crime. Whether the perpetrator -- the extortionist -- is a neighbor seeking use of your lawn mower or an organized crime thug reminding you to pay your monthly "protection fee" or else, such behavior is condemned and prosecuted rigorously. No normal person enjoys having his desires thwarted or his values seized against his wishes.

Yet what can a person do when the extortionist knocking at his door is someone whose job it is to protect him from that very crime?

Webster's says that "to extort" is "a) to wrest or wring (money, information, etc.) from a person by violence, intimidation, or abuse of authority; obtain by force, torture, threat, or the like, b) to take illegally under color of office."

Unfortunately, in today's political reality, legal extortion is the guiding principle that authorities at all levels of government practice with relish and enthusiasm. Few citizens realize precisely what is occurring when the State shakes them down. This type of theft, however, does them far more damage, results in a much greater loss of wealth, damages their freedom far more than all the criminals currently preying on otherwise honest citizens who simply wish to be left alone in peace, safety, and freedom.

At a local level, such extortion manifests itself in a myriad of rules, regulations, taxes, permits, and demands for compliance. A person's property becomes, not a resource to be used by him in furthering his personal goals and values, but instead an extension of "public" property, to be controlled, limited, or expropriated according to the whims and preferences of whoever directs the agents of the State.

• Building codes force a homeowner to construct or remodel his house -- his property -- in alignment with the judgment of a government certified "expert." Regardless of whether an individual prefers to add certain safety devices or utilize particular building materials, the building inspector dictates what is acceptable or not. Where a property owner can site his home; whether he can have an office in or run a business on his property; whether he can rent out a room to a boarder; where he may plant a tree or cut one down; how many cars (of a certain age) he may park in his own drive; whether he may build, at all...the number of ways that government may require compliance from a citizen is nearly limitless. And if a homeowner has the misfortune of purchasing a property designated as "historical," esthetics alone (and, of course, the esthetic choices of a group of strangers who did nothing to help the individual purchase his property) can force the hapless owner to use a certain color paint, erect only certain styles of fencing, or alter the looks of the house according to narrowly delimited parameters. Whether one can afford such changes or even likes the results of these demands is irrelevant. The homeowner complies...or else.

• Developers and entrepreneurs are likewise politely assaulted by those governmental officials who demand certain perks, actions, or policies. For every new house built, a municipality may demand a "small percentage" fee to be delivered into the city or county's coffers. The officials may require a certain portion of land be "set aside" as parks, trails, and playgrounds or placed into a landbank to "preserve the natural environment." On top of that, of course, are the usual building codes which burden the individual property owner. If the builder resists or attempts to negotiate a more acceptable situation, the governmental body may simply state, "Do it our way or we'll just take the property we want through imminent domain." Other agencies may require an entrepreneur to locate his business in areas of a particular racial make-up. For example, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing board recently reversed itself and told Louisiana Energy Services that its license for a new uranium enrichment plant would require "further study"...despite the fact that the facility would bring desperately needed jobs and tax revenue into the community. Why? The board feared the selection of the site may have been influenced by racial considerations and might result in "environmental injustice," that is, subjecting local blacks to more pollution than whites...even though the NRC had earlier declared the plant safe. Had L.E.S. chosen a predominantly white location, perhaps it would not have been threatened with the termination of its $855 million plans. Refusal to knuckle under to the intimidation may result in denial of permission to build. In other instances, forced compliance with "environmental" laws such as wetlands regulations can ruin a business and even send the owner to jail. The message is clear: "Do it our way or else..."

• If a businessman creates products that are under official censure or that suffer from public distaste, the extortion rises to new levels. Tobacco companies are threatened with ruinous litigation or potential prohibition of their product though they have violated no laws. The extortion attempt is eagerly joined by nearly every state and supported by the federal government. The promised "take" is in the billions of dollars. Beer and liquor manufacturers are heavily taxed and regulated. Where they can sell, what information they can place on their labels, what hours during the day their products will be available, and how much alcohol will be permitted in their product are all determined by those who have no financial stake in the success or failure of the business. Perhaps not too far down the line, those who produce "junk" food, fatty treats, dairy or meat products, or even "gas guzzling" sports vehicles will begin paying their protection money, as well. If they resist, they'll quickly learn that if they refuse "protection" there will be no product to sell, at all.

• Cities, counties, states, and the federal government save their boldest attempts at extortion for the realm of income taxation. Adding insult to injury, they have the audacity to label their actions with an Orwellian usage of the term "voluntary." Because the men with the guns rarely come directly to your door, the politicians and their minions pretend no "violence, intimidation, force, or threats" are involved in getting you to surrender your property. Every year trillions of dollars are quietly extorted from those who have earned it. Each of those dollars represents time stolen from the owners, represents a partial slavery, represents another retreat from the freedom each citizen has as his right. Of course, in addition to the income tax, there are sales taxes, property taxes (used primarily to support schools...whether you have children or not), estate taxes, luxury taxes, employment taxes (social security, Medicare, unemployment), excise taxes, gasoline, cigarette, and alcohol taxes...indeed, almost no human activity is exempt from such extortion. An individual may voluntarily "choose" not to pay certain taxes...but the "or else" in these cases does not pay even lip service to due process. Without a court order or a trial, the Internal Revenue Service can seize a person's bank account, padlock his business, garnishee his wages, or sell his property to satisfy a tax debt. The implicit threat: pay the IRS whatever it claims you owe it...or else.

These examples of officially sanctioned extortion could be extended indefinitely. Every behavior a citizen does only under the threat of punishment, every peaceful action he avoids due to official intimidation, every bit of property or time surrendered at the literal or figurative point of the government's guns is an abuse of his freedom and rights, a denial of his moral autonomy, an initiation of violence which proclaims that neither his life nor his property are truly his. Every citizen who seeks to cash in on that booty, every person who demands that his neighbor conform to his wishes, every individual who clamors for what he did not earn contributes to an atmosphere which permits, condones, and even encourages expanding legal extortion.

An honest person does not seek to enrich himself at the expense of his fellows. A moral person does not claim that his desires or his needs establish a claim upon the time, wealth, or property of a neighbor. A person of integrity does not abhor extortion on an individual level while encouraging it on a social plane.

As a culture and most especially as individuals, we need to recognize extortion whatever its guise and categorically reject it. The consequences of failure to root out and eliminate such attitudes are too grave to ignore. We either increase freedom and respect for property rights...or else...